June 10--Consolidating dispatching operations for police and firefighters can seem like a good idea, but getting it done can be a long process, a consultant working with four Franklin County suburbs says.
Political will, resident support and other intangibles often determine success or failure in combining these important, but costly, facets of public safety, said Sherri Bush of Pennsylvania-based L. Robert Kimball, who is working with Dublin, Hilliard, Upper Arlington and Worthington.
Kimball employees have observed each city's operations, reviewed union contracts and interviewed city officials. A draft report is due this month. But numbers alone rarely can gauge the efficiency or effectiveness of police dispatching, said Bush, the project manager.
Merging operations is "almost always feasible and is an improvement," she said. "If it's done correctly, you immediately get service efficiencies. But is it practical?"
Of the 25 dispatching-consolidation bids she has studied in eight years, Bush only twice has concluded, "I wouldn't even bother." Still, "Nine out of 10 never get off the ground, because of lack of political will or the funding just isn't there," she said.
Even under ideal conditions, such as in Charleston County, S.C., where 10 dispatching operations merged, the process took eight years, Bush said.
The data Kimball is studying include budgets, police call volumes, dispatcher pay ranges and staffing. Operating budgets range from about $830,000 in Upper Arlington to $1.56 million in Dublin. Dublin's population of 42,000 roughly doubles in the daytime because of its influx of commuters.
The numbers indicate that Worthington, at $51 per resident, is the most costly of the four operations. Upper Arlington ($24 per resident) is least expensive. All four cities dispatch both for police and fire departments.
Joe Valentino, Upper Arlington's assistant city manager, has urged the city to buy into the idea.
"This is something we have to do," he said at a meeting this year. "It is very important to all four of our cities."
Upper Arlington dispatchers took a few non-emergency calls during two hours on a recent weekday. When it's slow, the two dispatchers often watch television or read. But when a thief was spotted, the two handled numerous calls to and from police, who eventually caught up with the getaway car in Columbus.
"A smaller center can be overwhelmed instantly," Bush said. "In a larger center, you have more folks, and that's going to downplay any bottlenecks that may happen."
The survey data do not include resident-satisfaction reports, late or botched emergency runs or lawsuit information, Bush said.
Worthington's staffing problems, which resulted in its police chief's temporarily canceling time off for employees in January, were not mentioned on the survey. Neither was the city's transition to a new telephone system last year, which resulted in transferring land-line 911 calls to Westerville for several weeks. Both were mentioned generally in interviews with the consultant, Bush said.
Although consolidation is a recent government buzzword, the consultant warned that saving money shouldn't be the main motivation, Worthington Police Chief James Mosic said. "They prefaced the study with, 'Don't expect to see (immediate) cost savings. Don't expect to see huge reductions in personnel.'" Regional dispatching might require a backup location or systems, new radio systems for members and training and programs that are costly, Bush said. "People that are pursuing this just for the cost savings, I've never seen that being successful."
@DeanNarciso
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