911 dispatch gets upgrade
December 22, 2008 Post-Tribune staff report The banks of telephones in the Gary Public Safety Facility that ring and ring and ring with 911 calls will be silenced, packed up and sent to some long-distance phone heaven early next year. In their place, computers. The changeover is part of a countywide program that will use Internet providers to receive and dispatch emergency calls here and 17 other police stations. "Gary has that big 90-button telephone system. It's gone," Lake County's newly hired 911 Director Jeff Cicillian said last week. "Everything is point and click. It's a Windows system that makes it a lot easier. It's all on the computer screen," Cicillian said. Gary dispatchers traveled to St. John Police Department earlier this month for a week-long training session. Cmdr. Richard Allen, who supervises the communications division, said he was unable to comment on benefits of the new system Friday because he hadn't spoken to anyone who completed the training. Lake County police were the first to have the new, enhanced emergency system. St. John Police Department was second and East Chicago completed its changeover last week. Gary is expected to make the switch the first week in January. By April, every police and fire dispatch center in the county will have the new computer system, one that eliminates the huge switching boxes in their radio rooms. "Instead of every single department housing a big box, there's one simple routing box and the main box stays at the AT&T office on Main Street in East Chicago,"?Cicillian said. Cicillian, who retired this month from the Lake County Police Department, where he was a commander over the communications department, will begin his job working for Lake County commissioners Jan. 1. He was determined his department would have the new system before he retired, and as the civilian supervisor, will be able to continue the work throughout the county. The $10.3 million "Patriot" system can process text messages, voice streaming and other digital communication. By sometime in 2010, the statistical package will keep track of important data and a mapping system will allow dispatchers to locate a cell phone caller who has an emergency, but can't describe where they are. "When all three are up and running, it will be the first in the nation,"?Cicillian said. The system consolidation is part of a statewide mandate to combine services. In a news release issued Friday, Gov. Mitch Daniels listed a series of local government reforms he recommends, and one of them is the police dispatch overhaul. A state law requires each county to have a maximum of two public safety answering points by January 1, 2015. "This will provide consolidated, effective and efficient public safety dispatch in each county," the release states. Cicillian said that dispatchers will still answer calls at the same pace, but transferring calls and obtaining information should be faster and more efficient. "Gary PD has 47 ringdown numbers, if they need to send to a fire station, they have a series of buttons, now they'll just go to speed dial, click on a button and send it," Cicillian said. Porter County has already consolidated its dispatch system, although Portage still maintains its own dispatch center.
_________________ “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors”.
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