Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Regional Dispatch Debates

Regional Dispatch Debates

Barre officials blast regional dispatch

By James F. Russell CORRESPONDENT
BARRE — Police, fire, ambulance and highway department officials told selectmen at Monday's meeting about many problems with the town's regional emergency dispatch service that they said endanger public safety.

The complaining officials included the police and fire chiefs, the public works director and the commander of the Barre ambulance squad. They said some of the dispatchers act unprofessionally to them and are surly to the public, appear untrained, fail to provide vital information, frequently compile erroneous and incomplete logs and fail to notify them of emergency bulletins in a timely manner.

Nearly two years ago, in an effort to save money, the town joined Rutland's dispatch service. The regional system also includes Hubbardston and Oakham.


"They have some real good dispatchers and they have some poor dispatchers," Barre Fire Chief Joseph Rogowski told selectmen. He said that he and Police Chief Erik Demtropoulos have attended monthly meetings with Rutland officials, and their promises of things getting better have yet to happen.

Officer James M. Sabourin, president of the police labor union representing Barre patrolmen, Mass COP Local 340, handed selectmen a letter listing eight specific complaints.

Dispatcher "log entries are incomplete, inaccurate, or absent altogether," Officer Sabourin wrote.

"During serious calls, dispatch often fails to check on the status of officers," he wrote. "Citizens have complained to officers regarding unprofessional and dismissive attitudes from dispatchers."

During the meeting, Selectman Lief Ericson said he has received complaints from citizens who say they were treated rudely.

Officer Sabourin said the dispatch service frequently fails to notify Barre when there is a "be on the lookout" or BOLO alert for a dangerous criminal.

He said the Barre department usually hears about a BOLO via the state police, and 20 to 30 minutes later the alert is transmitted to Barre via a Rutland dispatcher.

"During the transition to regional dispatch, we were told by multiple supervisors and town officials of both Rutland and Barre that moving to a regional dispatch would produce a more professional and effective working environment. After 19 months it is obvious that this is not the case," wrote Officer Sabourin. He attended the meeting Monday.

Selectmen said they plan to arrange a meeting later this month in Barre with the Rutland board and Rutland Police Chief Donald Haapakoski. No Rutland officials attended the meeting Monday.

The cost to Barre before regionalizing emergency dispatch was close to $200,000 per year. The current cost as part of the four-town system is $96,000, town officials said.

Public works superintendent Jason Pimental told selectmen that all alarms for the municipal water and sewage treatment plants go straight to Rutland's dispatch.

"The biggest problem with them is a major lack of detail," he said. Mr. Pimental said his crew often is not told which of the plants might be experiencing a problem and "we are driving to five different locations" attempting to find where the alarm went off.

"The service we had before (regionalizing) was top-notch compared to what we have now," Pimental told selectmen.

Mr. Ericson said returning to a Barre-only dispatch service is not on the table. He said if talks with Rutland officials fail to fix the problems, the town would seek another regional arrangement.

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Leicester approves pact with Worcester for regional dispatching

By Susan Gonsalves CORRESPONDENT
LEICESTER — Selectmen in Leicester voted 4-1 Monday to authorize and sign a 10-year intermunicipal agreement with Worcester for dispatching services. Selectman Dianna Provencher cast the dissenting vote.

Selectmen acknowledged that in the past, they had reservations and concerns about such an agreement but believed the pact's advantages outweigh the drawbacks.

Town Administrator Kevin Mizikar noted that while the agreement takes effect on March 1, it could take up to a year for operations to begin. The city received a Public Safety Answering Point Development Grant that will result in construction of a $1.6 million emergency communications center.

Mr. Mizikar said Leicester will save enough money to pay two full-time police officers and one civilian employee and increase police station hours. He declined to give specific dollar amounts but said he was confident the "re-allocation" of money would occur.

Selectman Matt Dennison, who was initially opposed to the idea, said the ability to build the police force changed his mind. "What it came down to is that I'd rather have more hours and more police on the street, especially in today's climate."

The center will be owned and operated by Worcester and overseen by a three-member Operations Committee consisting of one representative each from Leicester's police and fire departments and Worcester's director of emergency communications.

The committee composition was one reason Selectman Douglas Belanger grew comfortable with the idea. "That was the turning point. The committee will be making decisions. Do the math," he said.

Sandy Wilson, chairwoman of the Board Selectmen, said regional dispatch would also improve efficiency. She noted that having separate call takers would free up dispatchers to communicate solely with police, fire, ambulance and emergency personnel. She said that after a recent accident in Leicester, 40 calls came in and the dispatcher had to keep putting responders on hold to take them.

Mr. Mizikar said Leicester would have to pay Worcester the difference based on call volume if the city received less than $550,000 in PSAP grant money in any given year. He added that the town will pay approximately $31,000 into a capital emergency fund.

Mr. Belanger urged townspeople to get involved at town meeting in the spring if they would like to see savings distributed back into the Police Department.

"Democracy belongs to those who participate," he said.

In other business, selectmen heard from the town administrator that the $84,000 budget for snow and ice removal is depleted and the account is $57,521.55 in the red. He said that across the state, the salt supply is dwindling and he's hoping that an anticipated delivery pans out, with more stormy weather expected Wednesday and over the weekend.

2 comments:

  1. There is a good possibility that the Templeton will have to look into working with area towns to get some of of the jobs done that we are now doing on our own. It is to bad that Barre is having problems with their regional dispatch service. It seems it is more about the people working than the service its self. This should be a easy fix, as most everything is recorded as far as I know. If the people can not be professional they should be gone, like in a heart beat. The new reality is that Templeton simply does not have the funds to support some of the town's departments that have less work now, than when the building boom was in high gear. This is about what we as a town need, not about what we want. It is always easier to put jobs in place, than it is to remove them, but changes have to be made and they should have been made a long time ago. It was the failure of past Selectmen, that had continued to fund these departments rather than make the changes that were necessary. It will be a bitter pill to swallow, but the patient will live. Bev.

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  2. It would seem it is ok to question events on 9-11 if you are a Super Bowl Championship Coach. Thanks Coach.
    Is Seahawks coach Pete Carroll a 9/11 truther? That all depends: Does badgering a former four-star general about whether 9/11 was real make one a truther?

    Here's what happened, according to a couple sources: Late last spring, retired general Peter Chiarelli, who had just finished his term as the Army's vice chief of staff, visited Carroll at the Seattle Seahawks headquarters. Chiarelli was expecting a pleasant meeting. After all, the pair had what important businesspeople tend to call synergies: Chiarelli—who grew up in Seattle—is a big Seahawks fan. His post-military work concerns traumatic brain injury research, a cause of some significance to the NFL. And both have plenty of experience leading groups of men on grand American stages.

    The sit-down between Chiarelli and Carroll started off normally enough. They talked about the team, and then about head trauma. Chiarelli, who commanded the American forces in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom II, talked about the brain injuries he had seen there. But Chiarelli's mention of Iraq sent Carroll in another direction: He wanted to know if the September 11 attacks had been planned or faked by the United States government.

    In particular, Carroll wanted to know whether the attack on the Pentagon had really happened. Chiarelli—who was the top-ranking Army official inside the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into its western side—explained that it had. He said he had lost many colleagues. But Carroll didn't stop there. He ran through the whole 9/11 truther litany.

    "Every 9/11 conspiracy theory you can think of, Pete asked about," said Riki Ellison, the former NFL linebacker who now runs the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance and introduced Carroll to Chiarelli. Ellison, along with Seahawks offensive line coach Pat Ruel, was at the meeting as well. "And he didn't stop at 9/11—he had lots of questions about the role of the military today." (Carroll does seem to have some fondness for the military. He lectured at a military-sponsored "conference on small unit excellence" in 2009, and last year Ellison connected him with Army soldiers at Camp Carroll in Korea.)

    Carroll isn't crazy, Ellison said. He's just skeptical. "Pete grew up in California during Vietnam, and during Watergate. That's just the perspective he brings to the table."

    So did the discussion last year turn hostile? A source close to Chiarelli, one who wasn't present when he spoke to Carroll, told us that it did. He said the general had to leave the room because Carroll had rankled him so thoroughly. Ellison told us that that wasn't true, that the discussion had remained friendly and "fun" throughout. A spokesman for Chiarelli at his foundation, One Mind for Research, did not respond to repeated phone and email requests.

    Ellison said Carroll did only what anyone else would do: "Pete had a four-star general in the room, one of the army's top guys. Why wouldn't you push the envelope?"

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