check the facts before pushing consolidation
Having went thru consolidation with Davidson County as both a responder and an Emergency Dispatcher, I feel people are jumping on this "effecient" consolidation bandwagon.
You see, I've been there, the thing people forget is what is lost in consolidation, namely people manning your radio. You see where you may have had 2, 3 or more people responsible for an agency, when you consolidate you may get 2 but will more than likely only get one person dispatching your agency, or possibly doing your agency plus another agency or two. Now ask yourself, if your a responder in a mayday situation, do you want that dispatcher having to handle 3 or 4 frequencies plus answer the phone? If your a caller calling 911 do you? At Davidson County, I routinely handled County Fire, Thomasville Fire, Lexington Fire and County Ems all at once sometime having to pick up Denton Pd in the process.
You see in the emergency dispatch profession you tend to have a high turnover, and as anyone who has worked at any level of government can attest, if you work short and still get the job done, come budget time what happens? Your asked why you still need those positions. So, it becomes a never ending cycle, you pile more on people because you don't have proper staffing, they burn out and leave and you end up with a bunch of newbies, putting even more pressure on the experienced people and so on and so forth. This is the reality of a consolidated center.
But let's consider High Point in particular, I see there are some people bashing them for not consolidating with Guilford County. Well as someone pointed out, High Point is unique in that it sits in 4 counties. Although the majority is in Guilford, about 15-20% of the city is in Davidson with portions of the city falling in Randolph and Forsyth Counties. Seeing as how there is even more expansion planned into Davidson county and they already have a consolidated set up, if you want to talk consolidation why not merge with them?? I'm sure some people will read that and laugh, but think about it, it makes almost as much sense.
Bottom line, consider what you lose in a consolidation, people that know the area and know the callers, responders and what they expect. What do you gain? Higher turn over, more inexperienced people and longer response times (although not addressed in this post, it is a fact). Is that really a savings?