Hillsdale, NJ Council agrees to keep emergency dispatch in Hillsdale
- Thread starter jaymatt1978
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comsec1
Guest
This is a good thing, There is way too much politics in Bergen County and the cost to go to a trunked system for a small town is cost prohibitive. I keep wondering why they have to have the system they have when they had enough RF channels available and why it's encrypted.
902
Member
I agree and I disagree. It is a good thing, and I'm with you on the politics. Local telecommunicators serve their community best (in my view). But, there are not enough channels in Bergen County, certainly when you factor how many it takes from one town to the next for police, fire, EMS, public works, and other amenity services a town offers. The county has these requirements, as well, as it provides services in addition to municipalities, or in some cases instead of municipal services. Trunking was a long time coming and could have offered municipalities a good platform a decade or two ago.
My only concern in Bergen and vicinity is (the people who know me already see this coming) the T-Band situation. Maybe different politicians will have a different world view and change the law, but for right now, all that spectrum is going away. There's not enough to replace it elsewhere, so if Hillsdale did decide to go with the county, their capital investment in equipment would need to be amortized over 9 years instead of the 15 years of usable life most places expect. It's worse for future applications because the manufacturers are counting on a 18 month to 3 year technology refresh as agencies move to LTE.
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comsec1
Guest
I should have been more specific on the frequencies, BCPD and BCSO had enough channels. I do agree that Bergen county as a whole is crowded for RF. I hope to be retired and out of public safety radio by the time all that T-band and 6.25 khz stuff comes around.
STEVE392
Member
How much are they really saving by having there own dispatchers? I mean if they are working 3-11's and midnights, you need atleast 2 working mon-friday. Weekends? Maybe p/t, thats 2 or 3 more. F/T's need benefits.
Plus the whole argument of the towns dispatchers know the town? Just because they come from the town doesn't mean they know anything about it. I've worked with people who have no clue about anything in the towns they live in when it comes to dispatch.
Plus the whole argument of the towns dispatchers know the town? Just because they come from the town doesn't mean they know anything about it. I've worked with people who have no clue about anything in the towns they live in when it comes to dispatch.
jaymatt1978
Member
Hillsdale wasn't the only town to rebuff the county. The county has occassionally mentioned Central Dispatch in Ridgewood which dispatches I think it's upto 11 or twelve towns in the county know which include Montvale, Park Ridge and Woodcliff Lake here in the Pascack Valley. There's a greater chance of the towns in the Pascack Valley creating a dispatch center than any of them joining the County system
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902
Member
They're probably not saving anything. Rather it's a quality of life issue, and it's a potential mechanism for recruiting and retaining volunteers for the Borough's services. If someone lives there, it's their prerogative to maintain the services they feel suit their needs.
This may be a "cost center" for the borough, but having a number of smaller systems in place provides for system survivability through infrastructure diversity and it keeps a number of small local shops and people employed. When all these smaller operations assimilate into one larger operation, the rest of that ecosystem is gone and what's left is only the big vendor who exclusively represents the chosen manufacturer.
Think about it. The cost is not solely measured by a borough's bottom line.
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