dgnagy
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Article was in the Massillon Independent on 12-14-07
Central 911 call center pitched
Paul Linnee reviews 911 emergency operations for a living. He’s examined hundreds of 911 call centers throughout 40 states.
“Of all of those I’ve looked at, Stark County, by far, transfers more calls than anyone else,” he said Thursday after meeting with the Stark County Council of Governments.
“The way that 911 service delivery is organized in Stark County today is not working very well and it needs to be dramatically reconfigured and made far more efficient,” said Linnee, who works for GeoComm, a company hired to review the county’s 911 operations. “911 calls ought to be transferred far less than they are being transferred today.”
With the exception of the city of Canton, all 911 calls placed in Stark are answered at a call center in the basement of the Stark County Jail. The call center does not dispatch police, fire or ambulances. Instead, operators direct calls to the dispatch center that would handle the emergency.
For example, a traffic accident in Massillon that is reported via 911, would be answered at the call center, then transferred to the Regional Emergency Dispatch Center in Jackson Township. Dispatchers there would direct Massillon police and fire to the accident.
Not only does that cost safety forces response time, Linnee says, but also accuracy.
He could recommend that one, central dispatch center be formed in place of the 13 that exist, or that multiple centers receive 911 calls.
“It is logical to consider the creation of a larger, consolidated dispatch center where some or nearly all of the 911 calls would be answered and from which some or all dispatching of police, fire and ambulance would be done,” he said. “For this to happen, there’s a lot of research and planning and modeling to happen over the next several months, and I’m not prepared to give an idea of what an end picture might look like.”
Such a move could cost the county millions.
Randy Gonzalez, Jackson Township fiscal officer and a member of the committee reviewing 911 operations, said the study is being done in an effort to quell “mishaps” over the years.
“We’ve been trying to do it for 20 years,” Gonzalez said. “There’s about 15 different dispatch agencies and about 150 dispatchers. We’re trying to get this to work properly so that 911 calls get dispatched to the right call center.”
Stark County Commissioner Todd Bosley has pushed for such a setup.
“It’s incredibly ridiculous and it’s put people’s lives at risk,” Bosley said of the current arrangement. “You’ve got to hope and cross your fingers that your call gets to where it needs to be.”
Bosley wants to remove the operation from the county jail and place 911 operations in two or three dispatch centers around Stark.
Linnee asked for additional information from SCCOG on Thursday, including call volume data. He expects the study to be completed by March.
Central 911 call center pitched
Paul Linnee reviews 911 emergency operations for a living. He’s examined hundreds of 911 call centers throughout 40 states.
“Of all of those I’ve looked at, Stark County, by far, transfers more calls than anyone else,” he said Thursday after meeting with the Stark County Council of Governments.
“The way that 911 service delivery is organized in Stark County today is not working very well and it needs to be dramatically reconfigured and made far more efficient,” said Linnee, who works for GeoComm, a company hired to review the county’s 911 operations. “911 calls ought to be transferred far less than they are being transferred today.”
With the exception of the city of Canton, all 911 calls placed in Stark are answered at a call center in the basement of the Stark County Jail. The call center does not dispatch police, fire or ambulances. Instead, operators direct calls to the dispatch center that would handle the emergency.
For example, a traffic accident in Massillon that is reported via 911, would be answered at the call center, then transferred to the Regional Emergency Dispatch Center in Jackson Township. Dispatchers there would direct Massillon police and fire to the accident.
Not only does that cost safety forces response time, Linnee says, but also accuracy.
He could recommend that one, central dispatch center be formed in place of the 13 that exist, or that multiple centers receive 911 calls.
“It is logical to consider the creation of a larger, consolidated dispatch center where some or nearly all of the 911 calls would be answered and from which some or all dispatching of police, fire and ambulance would be done,” he said. “For this to happen, there’s a lot of research and planning and modeling to happen over the next several months, and I’m not prepared to give an idea of what an end picture might look like.”
Such a move could cost the county millions.
Randy Gonzalez, Jackson Township fiscal officer and a member of the committee reviewing 911 operations, said the study is being done in an effort to quell “mishaps” over the years.
“We’ve been trying to do it for 20 years,” Gonzalez said. “There’s about 15 different dispatch agencies and about 150 dispatchers. We’re trying to get this to work properly so that 911 calls get dispatched to the right call center.”
Stark County Commissioner Todd Bosley has pushed for such a setup.
“It’s incredibly ridiculous and it’s put people’s lives at risk,” Bosley said of the current arrangement. “You’ve got to hope and cross your fingers that your call gets to where it needs to be.”
Bosley wants to remove the operation from the county jail and place 911 operations in two or three dispatch centers around Stark.
Linnee asked for additional information from SCCOG on Thursday, including call volume data. He expects the study to be completed by March.
