Representatives of police and fire departments studying the feasibility of a regional emergency dispatch center to service northern Wood County visited Crawford County last week to observe the sheriff’s department dispatching operations.

Lake Township’s dispatching center currently contracts with the Village of Walbridge and City of Rossford to handle their 9-1-1 calls.

Mark Hummer, the township police chief and administrator, floated the idea a few years ago of looking into a regional dispatch center covering more communities in northern Wood County.

To date, the City of Northwood officials have also been participating in the study and the city’s dispatching center already uses software by Alert Public Safety Solutions, Inc. for emergency police department calls .

The Alert software is also used by the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department, which dispatches for police and fire departments throughout the county as well as the City of Bucyrus.

“We wanted to see it in use on a regional application,” Chief Hummer said of the visit to Crawford County. “I think it’s a system that would serve us well.”

Northwood Police Chief Thomas Cairl said his department has been using the software for about five years.

“We like it,” he said. “It let’s us do our jobs efficiently.”

The software supports the department’s computer aided dispatch system, which enables police officers to log onto a data base of arrest records and related reports from their vehicles, Chief Cairl said, adding he’s also looking into an upgrade that would allow dispatchers to view the locations of the patrol cruisers.

Report by year’s end
Members of the ad hoc study group, which includes administrators as well as emergency personnel from the participating communities, hope to have a report summarizing their fact-finding efforts by the end of the year.

The report will include estimates of any cost savings that would be realized by a regional approach to emergency dispatching.

Chief Cairl said the most feasible option for the proposed regional format may be to extend the Alert system from Northwood to the other entities. An assessment of his department’s computer system servers will be conducted to make that determination,

“The state is pushing local governmental bodies to talk to each other about regionalization,” Chief Hummer said. “It would be easier to get grants with that approach.”

Under a regional network, police officers from the various departments could communicate with each other while on patrol and have access to a common data base of arrest records of suspects.

Chief Hummer said personnel from the Lucas County Sheriff’s Department have been invited to assess the township’s dispatching center on Lemoyne Road and the Northwood dispatching center at the city’s administration building on Wales Road.

“We want an independent party to take a look at both facilities,” he said, adding the group may have a recommendation this month on which site to use for a regional system.

The group meets monthly to discuss the proposed system. The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 6.

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