SPRINGFIELD — An idea first proposed 14 years ago is finally coming to fruition for the city’s police and fire departments in a combined dispatch center that will handle all 911 calls from the public.
The two departments, which historically have had separate dispatch centers in separate locations — most likely dating back to the invention of radio — will now rely on one combined operation for emergency communications.
City officials on Friday showed off the new facility, located in the Fire Alarm Headquarters Building on Roosevelt Avenue. They said the combined operation will improve communications between police and firefighters, and lessen the amount of time it takes to send help when someone calls 911.
“This is a very impressive combined dispatch,” said Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno during the media tour of the facility.
”State of the art. It’s been talked about for years but to have a combined dispatch center is truly outstanding,” he said, calling dispatchers “unsung heroes” who offer “the first line of defense, help and offense.”
In 2006, the city completed its first major reshaping of dispatch operations by hiring civilians to work 911, police and fire dispatch.
Up until that point, police dispatch was staffed by police officers, and fire dispatch by firefighters.
The recommendation at the time was to hire civilians — and to redeploy the police and firefighters taking 911 calls to respond to them.
In 2008, a consultant recommended the city combine the two dispatch centers as a way of increasing efficiency. The recommendation was never acted upon until now.
Fire Commissioner Bernard J. Calvi said since the idea was first proposed 14 years ago, the city spent 13 years trying to figure out the best location for it.
This summer he proposed repurposing the Fire Department’s alarm center on Roosevelt Avenue.
“We started in June with a big push to get the project done,” he said. “We finished up on time and on budget so I’m very happy about that.”
T.J. Plante, the city’s finance director, said the facility cost around $900,000. The city cobbled together surplus grant money from construction projects at the Brookings, Dryden, Kennedy and Kensington that came in under budget.
Once the system is up and fully operational and the dispatch at police headquarters is phased out, the operational costs will not be much different than the cost of running two dispatch centers, he said. There will be an added cost for hiring two new supervisors, but otherwise the budget will not change.
Police Commissioner Cheryl C. Clapprood said she supports the combined operation.
She said the public often did not understand that there were two different dispatch centers. That would come into play when someone called 911 to report a fire.
Calls to 911 automatically went to the police dispatch at the department’s headquarters on Pearl Street. People reporting a fire would be put on hold and transferred to the fire dispatch on Roosevelt Avenue.
Clapprood said having police and fire dispatchers in the same room, five feet apart instead of two miles, will increase efficiency.
“With everyone in the same room, it cuts down on any miscommunications or delays in service,” she said.
Calvi said a combined dispatch will allow for quicker transmission of information between departments.
“The bottom line is public safety. It improves public safety all the way around,” he said.
“You’re processing the information quicker and getting it to the people in the street — the police and fire — quicker,” he added. “Decreasing call handling time decreases response time.”
Clapprood said another advantage will be for communication between police and firefighters at emergency scenes. The police and fire departments use different radio channels and cannot communicate with each other by radio at emergencies. They are dependent on the dispatchers to relay information between them, she said.
“This addresses a communication problem I was always fearful of at a major event between police and fire,” she said. “To have one dispatch center which can put us all together in a matter of seconds is very welcome.”
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