Grosse Pointe Park Council Approves Consolidated Dispatch

The Grosse Pointe Park city council approved a contract Monday to provide emergency dispatch services to the City of Grosse Pointe. Officials are already working behind the scenes to complete the project.

The City approved the contract earlier this month.

Under the three-year contract, Grosse Pointe Park will provide emergency dispatch services for the City using their current dispatchers. Two oversight committees are also outlined in the contract that include representatives from both cities to ensure changes are made as appropriate once the transition has happened.

This is the second consolidation of dispatch in the Pointes. Grosse Pointe Farms took over dispatch for Grosse Pointe Shores last year.

City officials have been investigating such an option for some time now. City Manager Pete Dame toured all of the other dispatch centers last year evaluating each to determine which location would be the best for such an agreement.

Ultimately the decision stems from a study done in 2010 recommending that the Public Safety Departments of the Grosse Pointes make smaller consolidations rather than one large dispatch/lockup center as it would be more cost effective.

The only person to speak at Monday's council meeting regarding the consolidation was a public safety officer, who said he supported the move but he has concerns about the role of the stand-by officer as outlined in the contract.

Currently the Park has one officer who is at the station to help with prisoner bookings and oversight, walk-in reports and ambulance runs. He said he is concerned about the emphasis of this particular officer being available to help with the City's prisoner bookings as well. The stand-by officer is already very busy, he said. 

In the contract, there is potential for a part-time dispatcher to be hired to cover the peak hours--something the officer told council he believes will be necessary to ensure a smooth transition. He also emphasized the increase in call volume as a result of adding the City to the Park's dispatch and the development plans in the Park--changes he said will ultimately only increase the call volume more.

The Park's director of public safety, David Hiller, told council a phone tree is going to be developed as a measure to alleviate some of the call volume to dispatch and to speed up the process for the caller in reaching the person or department they wish to contact. A phone tree is already in place in the City and the Park, he said, will develop something very similar.

The goal for the transition is Sept. 1. Currently, the directors are working to receive state approval for some of the changes.

The consolidation is expected to save the City about $30,000 the first year and about $100,000 each year thereafter. Meanwhile the Park will receive about $92,000 annually for the service--adding to the Park's budget.