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In case of emergency, most people know to dial 911.
The call will then be routed to the Warsaw Police Department dispatch or to the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department dispatch, depending on where the caller lives.
On July 1, the Warsaw and Kosciusko County dispatches are tentatively set to merge and form the Central Dispatch Communication Center.
The discussion to join the two dispatches began in March 1997 when Ernie Wiggins became Warsaw mayor. "Shortly after (my becoming mayor)," said Wiggins, "we started exploring the possibility of a joint dispatch."
Wiggins said, "We had some pretty good support conceptually, at least I did, from the (city) council. The council seemed to think it was a good idea. Maybe the Y2K thing brought it to the forefront for the county as far as upgrading the equipment."
County Administrator Ron Robinson agreed that Y2K made it more imperative for the county. "The system we had in since 1988 ... was not totally Y2K compliant, so we started looking into what we needed to do. It was in our plans when we remodeled the (Justice) Building, but when we found out the 911 system wasn't totally compliant ... we knew it was time to update."
County and city officials began talking and making plans. "It wasn't something we did overnight, it was something that was looked into for some time," said Robinson.
The county used 911 funds to put state-of-the-art radio equipment into the dispatch center, which is all computerized, and remodeled the room in the basement of the Justice Building. Robinson said Warsaw also will bring in equipment to the central dispatch center.
"We feel the citizens of the whole county will benefit," he said.
He said the central dispatch equipment for the 911 system is up to date. It has TTD (for the hearing impaired) installed in every console. The new system also will allow dispatch to talk to all emergency services at one time. And as technology changes, so, too, can the system.
"We've tried to put enough thought into this center to reach out into the future," Robinson said.
According to Wiggins, 911 funds are generated from the $1 monthly fee on everyone's phone bill. "Everyone pays throughout the county," he said. "(It's) city residents' money, county residents' money. It seems to make sense to go that route."
He said with the central dispatch, there will be no duplication of efforts.
Robinson agreed with Wiggins on the benefits of a combined dispatch. He said, "We're not duplicating services. We're not having to switch from one to the other if that call came in. Before, when we had a 911 call, if one system was overloaded, it fell to another. In other words, if the city had a serious incident within the city of Warsaw and their (dispatch computers) were overloaded, it would dump over to the county so the county would take that. And sometimes you'd have a lapse because of not knowing everything that was going on until they had time to get their heads together.
"This way, they're all in one room, everyone knows what's going on and it just makes things flow much smoother."
"From the the city's perspective," said Wiggins, "if we're looking at relocation, ... we'd be looking at our own equipment upgrade, which would be substantial dollars there that we're not going to have to spend. Plus, in my opinion, most of the time, we only have one dispatcher on duty, and if they get overloaded, it gets pretty hectic over there. Whereas, with the dispatch center, there'll be more than one dispatcher on duty so they can cover for each other a little better."
Robinson said there will be a minimum of three dispatchers on duty at all times.
"As far as the (police) officers are concerned," said Wiggins, "they've been helping each other out when they need to anyway."
To get acquainted with all the new equipment, Warsaw dispatchers have been working in the new dispatch center.
Once the two dispatches begin working as one, Robinson said, it is not going to be "a city or county dispatch." It will be a 911 dispatch.
As far as salaries for the dispatch employees for the next year or two, Robinson said, the city will pay the people they have on staff and the county will pay their people. Presently, 911 monies pay for five county dispatchers and three city dispatchers.
"Both sides of the street have very good dispatchers," Robinson said of the county and city dispatchers. "Excellent dispatchers, in fact. Those people, when something happens, they flow together and I don't see that we're going to have major problems (with the transition to a central dispatch)."
Wiggins said, "They interact very well together. They're professionals. They like to do a very good job. I don't anticipate any problems from a technical standpoint."
A supervisor will oversee the central dispatch communication center. According to a Kosciusko County Sheriff's Office press release, Thomas Brindle will be the supervisor of the center. A 25-year law enforcement veteran, Brindle is currently a detective sergeant with the sheriff's department. The press release says he is familiar with all components of the new dispatch center.
Millie Francis, Warsaw Police Department, will be assistant supervisor. Francis is currently a WPD dispatcher.
Six employees within the county and city departments were interviewed.
The positions were chosen by the 911 Central Dispatch Board, which consists of WPD Chief Steven Foster, Wiggins, Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine, Robinson and Bill Goshert. Goshert serves as the public representative.
The function of the board will be to oversee the operations of the center. Eventually, Robinson said, it is hoped that the dispatch center will have its own budget, be its own entity and operate solely off 911 funds.
That may take a couple years, however, due to the large expense of putting the center and equipment in place.
"What we've been spending on our dispatch," said Wiggins, "we're just going to stick in the pool for a while. The county's going to do that, too."
The county spent approximately $251,000 for the radio equipment, Robinson said. A final cost for the entire center is not yet completed because the county is still working with the phone and construction companies.
"It costs quite a bit because what we've done is made that a self-contained unit over there. It has its own power, own air, so that if something were to happen to the building, it can still operate on its own," Robinson said.
With the costs involved, will the 911 charge increase?
"We've never increased since we started it in 1988," said Robinson. "It's been $1. Most places across the state have raised theirs to as high as $2.50, $2.75. One dollar a month, it's always been that way."
However, he said, in the future, there is always a chance there could be an increase, but for now they are comfortable with the $1 charge.
"It's pretty cheap insurance. It's proven itself," he said.
