Danbury to Start Civilian Dispatch, Nearby Towns to Continue Study

Brookfield, Bethel, Danbury, Newtown and Ridgefield agreed to study the idea of that would dispatch all fire, police and ambulances across the five towns.

Since the fire departments and police departments stay where they are in each town, it is really the 9-1-1 service that is being brought together in one place.

The first Selectmen from the four towns and Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton met at Danbury Police headquarters Tuesday to reveal the plan, which they said is still in its infancy.

“We really just kicked it off,” said Bill Davidson, Brookfield's first selectman. “That’s one of the reasons we don’t have firm numbers.”

The dispatch center would be run by Northwest Public Safety Communication Center Inc., a non-profit public company in Prospect, which now dispatches ambulances for 23 towns and fire, ambulance and police for six towns, said Susan M. Webster, executive director of the firm.

By regionalizing, the towns stand to gain about $250,000 each (or a total of $1.25 million) in state grants to regionalize dispatch services.

Newtown First Selectman Pat Llodra said the first step in moving this forward is recognizing that people have legitimate worries. People worry about police or fire being sent in the wrong town to the wrong address, and they worry that the towns’ existing dispatch centers will be dark at night.

Under a proposed scenario, people won’t be working in each town’s existing dispatch center, only in Danbury’s center. The issue is sometimes called the “Dark Lobby” problem.

“Other towns have struggled with these issues. We can learn from them,” Llodra said.

Danbury has talked about taking its dispatch work away from paid firefighters or paid police officers and creating what it calls “civilian dispatch,” with the eye toward hiring non-union workers who would be paid less than today’s union dispatchers.

Lou DeMici, president of the Danbury Professional Fire Fighters Union Local 801, said he first learned this plan was being offered in labor negotiations that started Monday. In negotiations, DeMici said the city said civilian dispatch will start on January 1, 2012, and the regional center will open on July 1, 2012.

“We have concerns,” DeMici said.

He said right now the fire department has four dispatchers and a supervisor, and two of the dispatchers are near retirement, but two are not. He said during negotiations, the city and union will try to work out a deal that is fair to everyone.

He said in Bridgeport dispatch recently sent two fire engines to a house fire that was reported to be fully involved. When the two engines arrived, the fire fighters saw nothing wrong with the house.

They called dispatch to be told, “Sorry, that was in Stratford.”

DeMici said he hopes shifting to civilian dispatch doesn’t create similar problems in Danbury.

While the new center is expected to be used by Danbury during the 2011-12 fiscal year, the other municipalities aren't expected to participate until the following fiscal year, officials said.