From The Chief's Desk

February, 2007

Central Dispatch

Those two words have garnered much media attention recently; and I have been quoted in several of the articles. Due to my association with the issue, both in the media and in the “real world” I’d like to review what we currently do, what we could do, and why it may not be possible to accomplish. I should say that I have been on two committees from the start of this last attempt to develop a Central Dispatch and I was on Muskegon Counties Dispatch Executive Board for two years prior to moving to Plainfield, so I have a pretty good feel for the issue.

How we are currently dispatched:

You had a bad day. If you are at a land line (wired telephone) the call is directed to the 911 call center (Public Safety Answering Point - PSAP) for that area. The dispatchers then have the name of phone subscriber, phone number and address. The call taker determines what your emergency is; if it is fire related we are typically dispatched immediately, if it is a medical emergency you are transferred to one of the ambulance company dispatchers who then determines what the problem is and then prioritizes the call and dispatches their unit.

Once the prioritization is made by the ambulance dispatcher then we can be dispatched by Kent County Sheriff Department’s dispatch. (We are dispatched as well as the ambulance because Kent County is a two tiered system that relies on the municipality to send responders to stabilize the patient until the ambulance arrives. On an average we arrive about five minutes before the ambulance. If we had enough ambulances in the County to eliminate the First Responders from medicals the number of ambulances would need to be somewhere in the vicinity of doubled. The cost would also increase significantly.)

With a car accident we typically get the call second or third and sometimes not at all if the dispatcher feels.  If you are using a cellular phone the call typically goes to the Michigan State Police post or Grand Rapids Dispatch, although on the right day you may get a chance to speak to someone on the other side of the State. The dispatcher may have your name, phone number, and a general idea of where you are. They will transfer you to the appropriate PSAP where the process begins as indicated above.

If you are calling from a VOIP phone, good luck. Depending on your service and the efforts you made to prepare for the possibility of being confronted with an emergency, you may get the appropriate PSAP, or one in San Diego, or none at all.  

How we could be dispatched:

There are several issues with developing a new Central Dispatch.

  • The current number of dispatch centers - We could function well with two centers capable of supporting the other in an emergency. This would allow there to be two separate locations where calls are routed as well as eliminate the need to depend on a much smaller out of county center for emergency backup. Such a need doesn’t occur often but it probably would occur during a weather related emergency when a higher number of calls occur.

    Having one of the much smaller dispatch centers in Muskegon, Ottawa or Berry County take over would likely be a problem. If Kent County had two centers that used the same dispatching software (CAD) and were connected so as to allow one center to send the information to the other there would be few delays in transferring calls. Logically each center would handle all calls within a given boundary, eliminating the problems of different dispatch centers for police and fire.
     
  • Radio frequencies – There are currently many different dispatch frequencies for Police, Fire and EMS in Kent County. This number could be reduced and the frequencies not used for dispatching could become tactical frequencies for use at emergencies. Or we could go to the next generation of radio communications and develop an 800 megahertz system. This would be very expensive as all departments would need to purchase new equipment.

    The other challenge with the 800 system is that there is another technology on the horizon that would allow better communication with less interference. That system would use the 700 megahertz band. To realign our current system when a Central Dispatch were formed would be relatively inexpensive and functional if properly supported by the Dispatch.
     
  • How would we pay for Central Dispatch: Now we are into the meat and potatoes of the issue! Where does the money come from? There is not a concrete answer to this question, but I will give you some potential options.
    • A county wide assessment (tax) that spread the cost equally over the entire county (Ottawa County). 
    • An assessment on each community that spreads the cost over the municipalities availing themselves of the service. 
    • A telephone surcharge levied on the phone bill of all phones in Kent County
    • A combination of B and C (Muskegon County).

    The communities that currently have a dispatch center could use the money that they are paying for dispatch now to pay for a Central Dispatch. Part of the problem here is that in some communities the dispatchers fill other functions such as filing, answering the seven digit numbers that people call for non-emergency issues or greeting the public. Those communities need to find a way to cover both expenses, which can be fiscally painful.
     

  • The last issue is the Townships which pay nothing now for dispatch through the Kent County Sherriff’s dispatch and should bear some of the burden in a new system. We may be able to come close to creating a Central Dispatch for near what we spend currently but it isn’t likely without some creativity on the local government’s part. It all boils down to the fact that we are not going to improve service and spend significantly less money.

    Who would be in charge – Who would make operational decisions? Would I have to compromise on some issues? Those are all questions running through the police chief’s and fire chief’s minds. We like to be in control because we are literally in a life and death business. But it has been my experience that it isn’t the life and death issues where we don’t agree, it is the small stuff; does your police department respond to barking dogs, well we don’t so how will that work?

    The fire service would have equally simplistic challenges over service provision. I learned that by compromise and a little open mindedness those type of problems can be settled. Ultimately there would be a Central Dispatch director who answers to a Board that represents the various disciplines and jurisdictions served by the Dispatch Authority. Muskegon County was the first Central Dispatch in Michigan and it experienced those problems when it was initially created, and there are few problems now. Additionally some of the managers and mayors/supervisors of the communities don’t want to lose control either.

    There is a very well respected fire chief who just retired from the Phoenix AZ FD. He contends that egos eat brains. We need to make sure that we don’t allow that to happen with this issue; it is too important!

OK. So now the last part; why haven’t we developed a Central Dispatch in Kent County when many of the smaller less fiscally capable counties around us have? It really comes down to ego, fear, and ignorance. The egos of the individual players won’t allow them to lose control. One appointed official was quoted in the press as saying, “I want to be able to provide unique service to meet my community's needs. We feel we can do it ... by having direct authority over our dispatch center." Or, I need to have control!

So where does fear come into play? It is the fear of you the voter’s reaction to a possible increase in taxes (even a small one) to provide improved emergency dispatching for your Police, Fire and EMS responders. Finally ignorance; the responsibility for that falls back to us Police, Fire and EMS leaders, we need to be telling you that our current system is woefully inadequate.

Let me give you an example- Last fall I was returning from a meeting and heard Grand Rapids FD trying to find an address for a medical emergency. The engine had been up and down Woodfield Ct. unable to find the address. It was later determined that the address was on Woodward in our Township.

We arrived after a significant delay. The call was made from a cell phone and didn’t provide an address. We were dispatched after a significant delay to a medical emergency because the dispatcher became involved in another emergency while waiting for the call to be prioritized. We arrived as the ambulance was preparing to leave.

I could continue but you get the point; we need a way for the first responders to be dispatched first. A Central Dispatch would allow that by dispatching everyone at the same time. As a result of our not educating you we have left you ignorant. Let’s hope that we can find a solution to this problem in the near future, before the dispatch problems of the recent past fade from our memories.