During the Cedar Lake Summerfest, I spotted a Police Officer in uniform and I called out to him to thank him for his service. To my surprise, it was Cedar Lake Chief of Police Roger Patz! So I shook his hand and we talked for a minute. I make no bones about my Republican stand and he let me know he is always officially neutral politically and naturally I agreed a Police Chief should avoid being an official party supporter of any kind and let the voting machine know which way he votes rather than the public.
Chief Patz is what we used to call in the military STRAC. I do mean this in the best possible way. He was absolutely dressed for the occasion, all badges and stars in place, neatly pressed uniform, straight posture, firm handshake, confident look in his eyes without a trace of arrogance, very willing to listen and fortunately also willing to discuss matters of interest. I was happy to ask him to give me his opinion of consolidated dispatch because I had heard two government officials discussing it with alarm and disgust. Naturally I wanted our Police Chief to weigh in. He very graciously told me what he saw as the primary problems of the system, and how it would really cause great potential harm to Cedar Lake citizens. He shared a story of a young woman who found refuge at the station late at night, seeking to get away from her abusive husband who had been beating her. She was battered and frightened. Fortunately the doors are open at night and a dispatcher is on duty at all times. This turned from important to vital when the young woman suddenly fell to the floor and began having a fit that seemed to be perhaps an epileptic event. The dispatcher called 911 and came out to render first aid and the woman was helped and she did live. If the doors were closed what would have happened to that young woman? If the building was empty, where would she have gone for shelter and who would have saved her life?
I told Chief Patz that I could be like a typical local newspaper columnist and go off of notes and my memory and try to tell his story. But I said that a professional journalist would want to get the Chief's professional opinion exactly right. Chief Patz agreed to email me his expert opinion. The following is the letter I received from our Chief of Police here in Cedar Lake, Indiana:
Mr. Binder,
Thank you for asking about consolidation and how it will effect Cedar Lake. Here is some of the information that you requested.
These are my personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of Cedar Lake Town Council.
Governor Mitch Daniels commissioned the Kernan-Shepard Report, with the primary intention of reducing the size of government , thereby reducing the cost of government to the citizens. Many areas of government can successfully be reduced or even eliminated saving taxpayers substantially, without any loss or reduction in services.
This in my opinion is not the case with consolidation of dispatching services in large urban areas like Lake County. Most of our State is made up of rural counties, with small towns and lower population. In these areas, consolidation of services is easy, efficient and in many cases already done. In large population areas like Lake County, where there are 16 cities and towns, each one unique in it’s own right, consolidation of dispatch services is not in the best interests of the citizens served and will not reduce the coast of government but will in face raise the cost with an increase in 911 taxes accessed on cell phone and land line phones. Even these additional tax revenues will not be enough in the short term to establish one or two consolidated centers.
The law as originally drafted requires that by December 31, 2014, there be no more that two PSAPs (public safety answering points) or 911 centers per county. In the final adopted law, the definition of PSAP was changed to mean all public safety communications systems. This is an important distinction.
Prior to 1982, 911 was in its infancy and was only housed at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. When a 911 call came in and was for services in Cedar Lake, the call was simply transferred to Cedar Lake Police and the call was handled.
In the years to follow, the County placed 911 answering points (PSAP) in each police station in the county. Each agency was now responsible for answering it’s own 911 calls directly. This new system cost millions to build out.
If the original draft of the consolidation law had been adopted, the County could relocate the PSAPs to one or two central locations. When a 911 call was received for a particular community, with the push of a button, the call could have been transferred to that community for their response. “Rolling Back” the PSAPS would consolidate 911 and leave each police dispatch center intact. This could save millions of dollars, with no loss of services.
Now, with the adopted law (with the expanded definition of PSAP), Lake County wants to build two new facilities to house 911 and dispatch services. The new centers would be managed by a director and staffed each shift by as many as 30 dispatchers and call takers. The county would need to employ the dispatchers which means that the county payroll will expand greatly, as well as the provision of insurance, pension contributions, and a whole new layer of government is created. Local cities and towns will have to decide if they will hire additional employees to handle walk in traffic at their stations, as well as route administrative phone calls OR close their police stations after reasonable business hours to walk in traffic.
In a small town, our dispatch center is not only the heat beat of the police station, it serves as a twenty-four hour community hub. When town offices close for the day, the dispatch center still takes calls and provides citizens with needed information on a variety or services. Closing our dispatch center means a significant reduction in services to the people of Cedar Lake.
This is just the tip of the iceberg!
It was nice to meet you. Please let me know If you have questions or need additional information.
Thank You!
Roger
Chief of Police
Cedar Lake Police Department
P.O. Box 305
Cedar Lake, Indiana 46303
219-374-5416 ext. 110
219-374-4448 fax
2nd Vice-President, Indiana
Association of Chiefs of Police
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Chief Patz, thank YOU!
You can see these are the words of a gentleman and a professional and you can plainly understand his concerns. There is anecdotal story after anecdotal story about the Cedar Lake Police, how they remember the old numbering systems so they find a home that Google Maps or some dispatcher in Munster would never recognize, about their involvement in the community so that they know the troubled couples and know the troublemakers and find out what assets are in place in the community to help people find a way to get through in hard times. I have seen police officers seeking to help advise a youngster when the easy way would have been grab the handcuffs and toss the kid in the slammer. This police force knows their community. I see them come to all sorts of events in greater numbers than needed, not just as policemen but to be part of community.
Also, I love dogs and so does my wife. Anytime we see a wandering dog who has slipped his collar that we do not recognize, we call him over, put him in our fenced-in dog area and call the police station to report the lost dog. Done this twice this year already and we are only halfway through. A police station open for business, so to speak, at all hours can save lives or reunite owners and pets. Everybody in town knows if you are missing a child you call the police and they will all be on the alert. Everybody in town knows to call the police if your dog wanders off and the police will call you back if the dog is found. These people care!
This is not simply a Cedar Lake problem. Chief Patz told me virtually every Police Chief in Lake County is ready to state their case for revising or recalling this legislation. Consider this article excerpt from a source I would call something of a 'hostile witness' because they tend to support big government, the Times:
Police officials debate 911 dispatch consolidation
Russ St. Myers can visualize Crown Point's streets as he fields a 911 call.
St. Myers, who is the city's emergency communication center manager, said his familiarity with local landmarks and geography can provide peace of mind to a frazzled caller who isn't sure of his or her location during an emergency.
"We can make the response to that particular person in need that much quicker," he said.
The knowledge St. Myers and other local dispatchers have of the communities they serve is what many Lake County-based police officials said they fear losing under a state-mandated consolidation of emergency dispatch centers.
Indiana law requires all counties to consolidate their dispatch centers by Dec. 31, 2014. The 2008 law allows each county up to two public safety answering points.
That means all of Lake County's 911 calls would be routed to central locations rather than to the municipality in which the calls originate.
Lake County currently has 18 dispatch centers, county financial consultant Jim Bennett told The Times.
The Lake County Council and commissioners approved an ordinance last week creating an 11-member advisory board to steer the consolidation effort.
County officials are moving forward with the mandate despite concerns from police officials who worry how it will impact public safety in their communities.
"I don't think it's going to work, but I hope I'm wrong," Lake Station Police Chief Mike Stills said.
Other police officials say they believe the consolidation will save taxpayers' money and provide residents better service in the long run.
Many Indiana counties, including Porter, already have consolidated dispatch centers.
And with the state-mandated deadline for dispatch consolidation looming, Lake County officials say they soon will have little choice but to follow the law.
Boosting coordination
Not all region police officials are troubled by the planned consolidation.
Lowell Police Chief John Shelhart said a consolidated dispatch center will boost safety in his southern Lake County town.
He described a typical scenario for Lowell, which has only one dispatcher on duty at a time. If that dispatcher answers a 911 call, he or she can't hang up until emergency personnel arrive at the caller's location.
Shelhart said that can put the rest of the town at risk because there is no one else to answer another.
Police officials from some other departments said they also favor a consolidated dispatch center.
Munster Police Chief Steve Scheckel said he supports the consolidation.
And Gary Deputy Police Chief Michael Mallett said his city would like to join the consolidated center soon. But it's mostly a financial temptation for the Steel City, which is battling severe budget woes.
"We're always willing to try anything new," Mallett said. "We've always wanted to work closely with other departments in the county."
Unfamiliar territory
Despite the benefits of a consolidated center touted by some local departments, other region agencies continue to voice concerns.
Stills said he wonders if county dispatch can replicate his city's attention to detail. Lake Station dispatchers send responders to every call, no matter how minor, he said.
Stills said that is not something every department has the manpower to do.
"The best way to serve the citizens is to be right there with your citizens, to know the streets and know the community," he added.
Stills also said he worries about what a mistake in address could mean for police responding to an emergency.
"The public is not interested in any excuse of delay of dispatching or us being sent to the wrong address," he said. "They want the service they've always enjoyed."
Hammond Police Chief Brian Miller echoed Stills' concerns.
"Our dispatchers are intimately familiar with our city and our officers," he said. "They know certain addresses that are extremely dangerous or areas that are volatile. They can notice the change in an officer's voice."
Upside, downside
None of the police officials interviewed by The Times challenged the wisdom of consolidating police services in some situations, however.
In fact, officials from several police departments pointed out the successes they've had with other regional police collaborations including the Northwest Indiana Law Enforcement Academy and Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force. Both initiatives pool region police resources.
But Lake County's consolidation plan requires police officials to relinquish control of their dispatch centers to county officials. It also means some local dispatchers will lose their jobs, financial consultant Bennett said.
Bennett said Lake County officials plan to interview all of the local dispatchers who apply for positions in the consolidated dispatch center. He said they likely will hire existing dispatchers because they already have training.
One chief, one vote
Police dispatch consolidation appears inevitable.
The Lake County Council and commissioners recently approved an ordinance creating an 11-member advisory board to oversee the consolidation.
The board will be made up primarily of police and fire chiefs from communities of various sizes. Board members will make recommendations to the County Council.
"In 99 percent of cases, the council and commissioners will follow the advice of this board," Bennett said. "It will be very hard for the county commissioners to go another way. These guys are the experts."
But some police chiefs challenge the setup of the advisory board.
The board will be made up of one police chief from either Hammond, East Chicago or Gary; one police chief from either Crown Point, Hobart, Lake Station or Whiting; two police chiefs from Lake County's town police departments; one fire chief from either Gary, Hammond, Hobart or East Chicago; one fire chief selected from the other fire departments in the county; the Lake County sheriff; a county commissioner and a County Council member.
The board also is to have two nonvoting members: a county commissioners' representative and the Lake County Emergency Management director.
The members from each pairing will recommend a representative to the county commissioners, who will make the appointments.
Cedar Lake Police Chief Roger Patz said each chief should have one vote.
"We're going to be thrown into the mix and not have a voice," he said.
Patz, who also is president of the Northwest Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Hobart, referenced the academy's setup, where each municipality has equal representation.
How much will it cost?
Bennett said county officials are still "six to eight months away" from cost estimates for the project. The consolidation is what officials call an "unfunded mandate," meaning the county has to foot the bill for the state demand.
In addition to a building for the central dispatch center, county officials also need to tie all the dispatch radio frequencies together and integrate software and records.
Gary and Hammond are the only municipalities not on a standard data system in common with other departments.
Bennett said the county's plan also may not eliminate the need for municipalities to have local dispatch for garbage trucks, the street department or public works. The consolidation is meant only for police, fire and ambulance service.
That information upset several police officials, including Patz.
"What's the point of consolidation? What's the benefit?" he asked. "You're duplicating services again."
But many of Lake County's neighbors to the east and west already have consolidated their 911 dispatch centers.
Consolidation elsewhere
In Illinois, South Holland police consolidated their 911 dispatch center more than three years ago with Riverdale, Flossmoor, Homewood, Glenwood and Hazelcrest.
South Holland Deputy Chief Greg Baker said the center is run by an executive board comprised of members of all the municipalities involved. Each municipality pays a percentage of the cost based on call volume and other factors, he added.
Each has an equal vote.
"It's not an easy decision," Baker said of giving up sole control of dispatch. "It's somewhat tough, but logically and financially ... the decision is really much easier than what you would think."
Porter County's dispatch consolidation hasn't been without bumps in the road, officials there said. There have been some complaints of static and low sound levels in messages from the dispatch center.
But Portage Police Chief Mark Becker said he believes the consolidation enhances public safety. He said county officials have been receptive to feedback on corrections needed to the service.
"There was a very emotional response because people don't like change," Becker said. "They think local can do it better. We fought that emotional battle with people, but we still felt it was the right thing to do."
Read more: http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/article_7be8a17a-6526-5fd2-9a3b-371812e4001d.html#ixzz1RTZXWu9q
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Make sure you have a pop-up blocker if you go to the above site!
WHAT SOME COUNTY IN ILLINOIS DOES IS IRRELEVANT
I'm sorry, but the concept that other counties have consolidated dispatch so Lake County should, too, is so fifth grade.
"Everybody else gets to go see (insert name of movie or concert or etc), why can't I?" Asks the woeful child.
"If everybody else jumps off a cliff, are you going to jump, too?" Says the mother.
The Times article is an attempt to put a smiley face on legislation that will cost Lake County several things.
- Local control and response to emergencies will be gone
- Wasted resources spent on the modernized 911 system already in place
- Wasted money building out a new dispatch system and all that goes with it
- Jobs lost by dispatchers being given to more bureaucrats instead
- More centralized control over local areas means local areas are not represented or protected
- Worst of all, there will be lives ruined or even lost because a non-local dispatcher will not know where to send help and help will not come in time
