Step 1: Dispatchers dispatched

[webstar22]

Dispatchers dispatched - The Daily Observer - Ontario, CA


Dispatchers dispatched
By STEPHEN UHLER stephen.uhler@sunmedia.ca
Updated 1 hour ago
The Pembroke Police Service will be switching over its dispatching services to Owen Sound as of June 7.

This follows the decision by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission earlier this month which supports the police board outsourcing its dispatching service to the Owen Sound Police Service to save on operating costs, but at the price of losing five local jobs.

At Thursday’s meeting of the Pembroke Police Services Board, Chief Dave Hawkins told its members everything is ready to make the switchover.

“We have everything in place,” he said, “as of noon June 7, Owen Sound will be dispatching for us.”

 

[webstar22]

Changed at 8:30am today.

Units call Dispatch with XJF39 call sign. Dispatch calls units by badge # now and not car # anymore.

 

[EJB]

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Dispatchers dispatched - The Daily Observer - Ontario, CA


Dispatchers dispatched
By STEPHEN UHLER stephen.uhler@sunmedia.ca
Updated 1 hour ago
The Pembroke Police Service will be switching over its dispatching services to Owen Sound as of June 7.

This follows the decision by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission earlier this month which supports the police board outsourcing its dispatching service to the Owen Sound Police Service to save on operating costs, but at the price of losing five local jobs.

At Thursday’s meeting of the Pembroke Police Services Board, Chief Dave Hawkins told its members everything is ready to make the switchover.

“We have everything in place,” he said, “as of noon June 7, Owen Sound will be dispatching for us.”

A shame for those who will lose their jobs.

 

[IdleMonitor]

It's not like there's no jobs around. There wouldn't be anything from stopping them from either applying to the OPP Comm Centre for dispatching or even closer with Renfrew CACC for EMS/Fire dispatching. They've already got the skills.

No job is secure these days, and this is something that comes with the territory with any job.

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A shame for those who will lose their jobs.

 

[Gymbag]

Who dispatches Pembroke Fire Dept? Was in Pembroke last weekend, with all the money they are going to save on policing (yeah right lol) maybe they could fix up/re-surface their main street.

 

[IdleMonitor]

That question was answered before you asked in my last post.

Who dispatches Pembroke Fire Dept? Was in Pembroke last weekend, with all the money they are going to save on policing (yeah right lol) maybe they could fix up/re-surface their main street.

 

[EJB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9360; en) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0.0.353 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

It's not like there's no jobs around. There wouldn't be anything from stopping them from either applying to the OPP Comm Centre for dispatching or even closer with Renfrew CACC for EMS/Fire dispatching. They've already got the skills.

No job is secure these days, and this is something that comes with the territory with any job.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9360; en) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0.0.353 Mobile Safari/534.11+)



A shame for those who will lose their jobs.

Pretty harsh Idle? Losing a job sucks. I will leave it at that.

 

[OntFF221]

Leaving the job losses out of it (which, I think everyone can agree, isn't a good thing...); it's the geography that's got me scratching my head a little...

Consolidated dispatches are common in the fire world (Barrie Fire, for instance, dispatches about 15 different departments) - no reason why that wouldn't work in the police world, too. But they are typically in a related geography.

It's the 500 km between Owen Sound and Pembroke that's got me confused... Combing with an existing dispatch in Refrew, Ottawa, or Smith's Falls would have made more sense geographically; but other then the OPP comm's centre in Smith's Falls; I'm not real familar with what facilities they have available.

 

[webstar22]

Leaving the job losses out of it (which, I think everyone can agree, isn't a good thing...); it's the geography that's got me scratching my head a little...

Consolidated dispatches are common in the fire world (Barrie Fire, for instance, dispatches about 15 different departments) - no reason why that wouldn't work in the police world, too. But they are typically in a related geography.

It's the 500 km between Owen Sound and Pembroke that's got me confused... Combing with an existing dispatch in Refrew, Ottawa, or Smith's Falls would have made more sense geographically; but other then the OPP comm's centre in Smith's Falls; I'm not real familar with what facilities they have available.

There is no police other then OPP in Renfrew.

Deep River was dispatched by Pembroke but when Pembroke voted to go OPP Deep River went to Belleville for dispatching and Pembroke went to Owen Sound. It seems to be working out pretty good from what I am hearing but it will be done by October anyways when the OPP move in.

 

[fire4117]

Consolidated Comm Centres are a great idea, as long as they are service specific. The idea of Police Services dispatching Fire is NOT, and has NEVER been a good idea, as the Police Services act states that police takes priority over fire. (this is what I have been told, so please corrrect me if that is wrong)

And regarding Barrie Fire, you are pretty much bang on, just a few months off :wink:. Right now we dispatch for 14 depts, (15 as of January 2013 when Innisfil Fire comes on board) with all but 1 of the dept's they dispatch for in Simcoe County. (Georgian Bay Twp - Muskoka being the odd one out) Staying in the same geographic area for all of your departments makes a lot more sense for a number of reasons, Mutual Aid being one of the biggest ones. And for us, we have 12 dispatchers and we need every last one. For example, when have a few big fires and other big calls or when a storm rolls through going from the southwest to the northeast we need the people in here.

Leaving the job losses out of it (which, I think everyone can agree, isn't a good thing...); it's the geography that's got me scratching my head a little...

Consolidated dispatches are common in the fire world (Barrie Fire, for instance, dispatches about 15 different departments) - no reason why that wouldn't work in the police world, too. But they are typically in a related geography.

 

[jellotor]

The taxpayers of Owen Sound should be happy about the local constabulary generating some money. Sucks for the erstwhile dispatchers of Pembroke, but I suppose the Pembroke PS could conceivably wait until the contract is up, put in a bid to re-establish their own comm centre and then undercut the cost of the service OSPS provides, even to their own police service. Comm centres could rotate around the province/country/world every few years, just like cable company call centres. Hire. Layoff. Re-hire. Layoff. Rinse, repeat.

Hey, though, props to Owen Sound's cops for finding a niche market to exploit.

 

[sirsmiley]

You do realize that Pembroke PS is disbanding and going to OPP right? And getting back in the game would cost an astronomical fortune as they will be selling off every single piece of their assets to recoup costs i'm sure for the city. There is no way they could save money by paying full time dispatchers with pensions and with salaries and health benefits instead of doing it by outsourcing it even if they weren't going OPP.

The issue with Pembroke PS according to papers was that the dispatchers got massive raises and there were other issues within the department.

Also im sure for the effort involved any service signing would be signing 5-10 year contracts so they wouldnt just "hop" to a new one.

Also Owen Sound is the 911 dispatch center for Grey Bruce, Pembroke is not a 911 dispatch center for anything. Owen Sound also dispatches for various fire departments based on their call sign.