Northampton Hub of Activity
Union-News (Springfield, MA)
Author: DAVID REID
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY, MA – While dozens of small town police and fire chiefs hobnobbed with State Police brass at the Troop B barracks here, radio dispatchers operating new E-911 consoles answered emergency calls from throughout the region as the celebrants looked on.
After several delays this fall, the state-of-the-art system here started late last month; Wednesday’s open house was its official welcome.
“This is a 15-year dream come true,” said Robert Chisolm, director of communications for Worcester, who in the late 1970s headed the Amherst dispatch center when it began handling ambulance calls from Cummington.
“It’s really excellent,” said Goshen Fire Chief Francis Dresser. “And it’s virtually free to the communities; that’s a big selling point.”
The computer-aided E-911 center is located on the renovated first floor of the State Police barracks on Route 5. Equipment lets dispatchers identify the caller’s name and location, retrieve medical information at that address, scan previous emergency calls there and determine which town official to contact 24 hours a day, every day.
Participating communities include Chester, Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, Granville, Hatfield, Huntington, Montgomery, Plainfield, Russell, Westhampton, Williamsburg and Worthington. Pelham will come on line early next year.
Although regional dispatch centers recently started in Shelburne, New Braintree and Framingham, this is the state’s first with E-911 which identifies caller numbers.
“I think E-911 is the best thing there is for us small towns,” said part-time Plainfield Police Chief Edward Morann.
Before the new system came on line last month, he said, all police calls in his town rang at his home. Now all emergency calls are routed to the dispatch center, callers quickly identified and tape-recorded, and proper local authorities contacted.
How has it changed his life?
“It makes the house a lot quieter,” Morann said.
Although dispatching costs to Plainfield are picked up by the state, Morann said the town paid for $2,300 worth of beepers for his seven-person department. “My budget for the whole year is $2,100,” Morann said.
State Police Maj. Donald Cody, head of the Bureau of Technical Services in Framingham, said he worked more than two years to convince small-town officials to join the regional E-911 efforts. Then, he said, there was the battle to secure state and federal funds to install and operate the systems here.
“Without money, nothing happens,” he said.
“I’m really pleased with it,” said the state’s top officer, Col. Charles Henderson.
Determine crime trends Computerized data collected from incoming calls, he predicted, will let public safety officials concentrate efforts to boost manpower in certain areas and determine trends in gang or criminal activity, for example. “I think we can be a lot more proactive instead of being reactionary,” he said.
Civilian dispatch supervisor Michael Ahearn said cooperation between local and state officials has been superb, even as technical bugs remain to be worked out. “But everybody’s pitched in to help us make sure things work properly,” he smiled. “I’m pretty pleased.”