Subject: [NEXTEL-1] 911 staff, sheriff sharing space

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2003 09:10:30 -0500

911 staff, sheriff sharing space

By:JACK MABB
10/31/2003

GREENPORT--If everything goes according to plan, county 911 dispatchers
will begin broadcasting for the first time from their new center at the
Public Safety building near Route 66 on Wednesday, November

The move signals a significant technical upgrade for the dispatch
service, but the head of the local State Police unit has questions about
how the new arrangement might affect the independence of the 911 staff.
County 911 Operations Center Coordinator Wayne Gearing says a few
details need to be worked out prior to the move next week, with the most
significant issue being when Verizon can move the telephone lines. The
new equipment, which includes four new consoles, has been installed and
tested over the last few weeks.  Two of the consoles will be used by
Sheriff's Department dispatchers, the other two by 911 dispatchers. All
four are located in the same room for what Mr.  Gearing calls "an
economy of not supplying two different communication centers."

Sheriff's dispatchers went online with their new consoles last Friday.
It has been nearly a year since supervisors on the county Board of
Supervisors Legal Committee, at their November 2002 meeting, first heard
a presentation on the need for new 911 equipment. At the time, they were
told of the advantages of moving the center to the Public Safety
Building in Greenport. The 911 dispatch office is currently located at
610 State Street in Hudson.  At the time the move was first announced,
Captain Robin Benziger, Troop K Zone 1 commander for the State Police in
the county, had expressed concern over the consolidation of the civilian
911 dispatch function and the Sheriff's Department, questioning how the
911 operation could maintain its traditional independence.  Contacted
Thursday, Capt. Benziger said she was delighted with the agreement
worked out last year, which spelled out the overall working relationship
between all emergency response agencies in the county. But she said she
still has questions about how the 911 operation can function
independently of the sheriff's dispatchers.

She also said she was concerned about a reported plan that would have
the 911 staff dispatch sheriff's deputies at certain hours of the day.
"I'm wondering what they're thinking," she said. But she expressed
confidence that county officials would explain the new arrangement to
her satisfaction the next time the coordinating group meets. She was not
certain when the next meeting would take place.

The cost of new consoles to replace the 15-year-old Motorola units at
610 State Street would be $275,000 for either Hudson or the Greenport
location. The difference in cost between the two locations would be the
need to replace the microwave dish located in the attic at 610 State
Street. That two-foot dish would have to be replaced with a four-foot
dish, which added an additional $375,000.  The larger dish would not
have fit in the attic and would have required a tower outside. That
addition would not have been well received in the community around the
610 State Street location.

Moving the center to the Public Safety Building eliminates two microwave
links, points in the transmission process where glitches have produced
down time.  The signal from 610 State Street goes to another dish atop
Columbia Memorial Hospital and then on to the Public Safety Building.
That link will be maintained for at least 24 hours after the new center
is up and running. Mr. Gearing says both the old and new sites will be
staffed for a full 24 hours Wednesday and into Thursday to ensure all
the bugs are worked out.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10440355&BRD=248&PAG=461&dept_id=462341&rfi=6

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