Ridgefield PD Centralized Dispatch Center

[Lynch_Christopher]

Was reading through some meeting minutes on the Ridgefield website and sounds like as of April 25th Ridgefield will be combining its Fire Department and Police Department to a new centralized dispatch center in police headquarters. Going to be interesting to see how this all plays out and if there will be any changes in radio communications.

 

[nhfdcadet]

It seems extremely wasteful to have two different dispatchers in two different centers for one town. Hopefully it is a smooth transition for them.

 

[cg]

As long as they keep two dispatchers and don't go to a single person center.

 

[Lynch_Christopher]

As long as they keep two dispatchers and don't go to a single person center.

From what I read in the minutes on the town website it does sound like they are going to keep two dispatchers.

 

[EasternMassScanFan]

It seems extremely wasteful to have two different dispatchers in two different centers for one town. Hopefully it is a smooth transition for them.

Sounds like Simsbury. The fire district has a dedicated dispatcher in their main fire station. The PD, depending on the shift runs 1-2 dispatchers.

 

[nhfdcadet]

Sounds like Simsbury. The fire district has a dedicated dispatcher in their main fire station. The PD, depending on the shift runs 1-2 dispatchers.

There's a few around with similar setups, what is odd about Simsbury is that the PD will dispatch the call, then the fire dispatcher takes over, I don't know of many like that. I know of another town where fire, ems, and pd all have their own dispatch, I can't help but think there is both a better and more efficient way to do it

 

[wmzuzuski]

Add Guilford, Cromwell, Vernon, and Naugatuck to your list of 'split' dispatch centers - to name just a few

 

[Firebuff66]

When Ridgefield posted the dispatcher job it was in there that you would be doing Fire & PD and they were upgrading the dispatch center.
I worked at Trumbull Regional Dispatch part-time for 10 years and we had 2 dispatchers 24/7 For Trumbull Fire & EMS and PD had 2 for PD.
FD & PD were 50 feet from each other in different rooms.
Trumbull Fire had some fine dispatching back then with 2 dispatchers for 1 town's FD, No CAD but they had a super accurate map and great policies and procedures that were updated all the time, it was run very well by the director and was a fun place to work!

 

[cg]

Bloomfield also.
Vernon and a number of others have some services with a Regional center and the PD in a local center.
Keep in mind that the PSAP consolidation hasn't gone away, it just is off the front burner. It was mentioned in a recent State E911 commission meeting that it will come up again.

 

[Firebuff66]

Also, all the towns that use CSP for the Police are split, CSP does PD and someone else does FD & EMS
Well I guess except for Southbury, They have a PD/FD/EMS dispatch center, but after the constables are dispatched by them on the VHF system they have to go on their state radio and sign on with Troop A, arrive with Southbury Dispatch, arrive with Troop A, clear with Southbury dispatch, clear with Troop A, they can run plates with either dispatch but the MDT in the cars is CSP, must get exhausting LOL

 

[firebuff17]

I know of 1 dispatch center where there are 2 PD dispatchers and in the same room where their chairs back up to 2 FD dispatchers.

 

[APX7500X2]

I know of 1 dispatch center where there are 2 PD dispatchers and in the same room where their chairs back up to 2 FD dispatchers.

That's very common to see in a combined center, Where I grew up originally The PD was dispatched out of the PD, FD out of the FD and EMS out of the EMS station. If PD needed FD & EMS they had to call 2 places. Now its all in a county center
Sort of like how New Cannan is Now, they went from PD dispatching everything to PD dispatching themselves, Westport dispatching Fire, and SW C-Med dispatching EMS..Naugatuck has 3 different dispatch centers also.
I'm Sure there are more.
CT is a place where everyone wants there own slice of the pie
NYPD Dispatches 12,000 Officers covering over 8 Million people out of 1 dispatch center. CSP Dispatches 940 officers covering 3 million people out of 12 dispatch centers

 

[nhfdcadet]

That's very common to see in a combined center, Where I grew up originally The PD was dispatched out of the PD, FD out of the FD and EMS out of the EMS station. If PD needed FD & EMS they had to call 2 places. Now its all in a county center
Sort of like how New Cannan is Now, they went from PD dispatching everything to PD dispatching themselves, Westport dispatching Fire, and SW C-Med dispatching EMS..Naugatuck has 3 different dispatch centers also.
I'm Sure there are more.
CT is a place where everyone wants there own slice of the pie
NYPD Dispatches 12,000 Officers covering over 8 Million people out of 1 dispatch center. CSP Dispatches 940 officers covering 3 million people out of 12 dispatch centers

theres one of the towns you mentioned, who i'm not sure understands the concept of a regional center.
Because they had a fire one morning, and needed mutual aid from three towns dispatched by the regional center that my friend works at.
They called the phone line for the first town, spoke to my friend, gave all the call info, yadda yadda, hang up
they called the phone line for the second town, spoke again to my friend, gave the same call info, hang up
then called the phone line for the third town, spoke to my same friend again for a third time, quite the process.

 

[izzyj4]

There's a few around with similar setups, what is odd about Simsbury is that the PD will dispatch the call, then the fire dispatcher takes over, I don't know of many like that. I know of another town where fire, ems, and pd all have their own dispatch, I can't help but think there is both a better and more efficient way to do it

Some regional Fire / EMS dispatch are the same way. Depends who has the PSAP for the town / city. And / Or agreements who receives 911's as the priority. I can get into it but would be better for another thread to beat a dead horse.

 

[Firebuff66]

theres one of the towns you mentioned, who i'm not sure understands the concept of a regional center.
Because they had a fire one morning, and needed mutual aid from three towns dispatched by the regional center that my friend works at.
They called the phone line for the first town, spoke to my friend, gave all the call info, yadda yadda, hang up
they called the phone line for the second town, spoke again to my friend, gave the same call info, hang up
then called the phone line for the third town, spoke to my same friend again for a third time, quite the process.

Every time! LMAO