Press release:
Effective November 1, the Genesee County Emergency Dispatch Center, under the administration of the Genesee County Sheriff, will begin dispatching Troopers for the New York State Police Batavia Barracks. Currently, the State Police dispatches Troopers from the State Police Troop Headquarters on West Saile Drive but effective November 1, all police calls for service will be transferred to the Genesee County Emergency Dispatch Center (9-1-1 Center) for dispatch. Currently, all cellular 9-1-1 calls within Genesee County are received by the Genesee County Emergency Dispatch Center. Staff at the State Police Barracks for non-emergency business may still be contacted by calling (585) 343-2200.
The Genesee County Emergency Dispatch Center (9-1-1 Center) currently dispatches the Batavia Police, Le Roy Police, Genesee County Sheriff’s patrols and all fire and ambulance services within the County. The 9-1-1 Center maintains a staff of approximately 16 full-time and five part-time civilian dispatchers and each shift is staffed with three to four dispatchers. The Genesee County Emergency Dispatch Center is an accredited 9-1-1 Center by the New York State Sheriffs’ Association Accreditation Program and meets all the New York State adopted standards for emergency dispatching.
“Our dispatchers have the highest level of training available and our Center is in compliance with the most stringent requirements for emergency dispatch set forth by New York State,” said Sheriff Gary T. Maha.
Sheriff Maha said, “The partnership with the State Police comes at a time when governments are being asked to cut expenses and share services. It just makes sense to combine dispatching into one central location where future equipment and resources can be dedicated to a single site.
A full upgrade in radios and towers for Genesee County Emergency Dispatch Center to Dispatch State Police communication is currently under way to comply with federal mandates for narrow banding. The $10.8 million project, contracted to Harris, will narrow the current bandwidth for police communications to free up additional spectrum for first responders and private industry. The project also updates the current 9-1-1 Center to receive Next Generation 9-1-1 calls. The project has a target date of February 2014 for partial completion and June 2014 for full completion.
State Police Captain Craig Hanesworth said, “I believe that this consolidation of dispatch services provides the citizens of Genesee County with the best in police service and response times while also providing for an increase in the safety of our officers. In addition, this consolidation allows us to reassign Troopers to road patrol functions that would have otherwise been delegated to dispatch and clerical administrative functions. This move should help increase police coverage and response times in the County."
For any police, fire or EMS emergency, citizens should call 9-1-1. Non-emergency police-related calls should be made as follows:
Batavia City Police, 345-6350
Le Roy Village Police, 768-2527
Sheriff/State Police, 343-5000
I foresee some big time
I foresee some big time problems.
And just how is that
And just how is that specifically Jason?
Jason, Please enlighten us.
Jason, Please enlighten us.
If anyone has ever listened
If anyone has ever listened to any police communications you would know that they have been already doing most of it for years. If anything, this will make it easier for our county to control patrol areas, etc. for best coverage of their resources.
Jason can't and he will not
Jason can't and he will not explain, again.
The concept is a good one.
The concept is a good one. The county 9-1-1 center have been working close with NYSP for a long time. The issue here is more calls will now go through the 9-1-1 center and there will be more radio transmissions through the center. This increase with the same number of dispatchers per shift. There are shifts now that only run with 3 dispatchers. Three dispatchers to answer City of Batavia, Leroy, Sheriff,Fire, EMS, and 9-1-1 calls. What happens when the S*** hits the fan and 2 different life threatening calls come in. How do three dispatchers prioritize? Keep in mind dispatchers are responsible for officer safety also. When dispatchers are on phones or talking on different channels. What happens when a trooper,deputy,city officer or Leroy officer calls in and needs help and that gets missed because there isn't that 4th dispatcher to pickup the overflow. Admin will tell you another dispatcher can be called in during busy times. By that time it's too late. Again the concept is good but this puts more pressure and demand on the dispatchers to do their job properly. Is the state of NY reimbursing the county for dispatching troopers? Maybe if they did proper manpower per shift could be put on. There have been a number of counties in the state dispatching troopers on a regular basis. This is nothing new in the state.