AgdaPkt 2012-09-24 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

6.1.A. - Page 17 In interviews the Grand Jury heard that South San Francisco, the City of San Mateo, Menlo Park, Redwood City, and the PSC all have the capacity to extend their dispatch services to additional cities. 6. The County Dispatch Option As was noted above, the dispatch relationship between Menlo Park and San Carlos ended when San Carlos contracted with the San Mateo County Sheriff for police services. All cities that contract with the Sheriff for police also use the PSC for dispatch, per Table 1 above. Six cities contract with the PSC through the Sheriff, and one city, East Palo Alto, has its own police department but contracts with the PSC for dispatch. The PSC employs 10 police dispatchers and 15 fire dispatchers. Eight of its dispatchers are cross- trained to execute all dispatch duties. There are at least nine dispatchers and one supervisor on duty at all times. While the fire/medical dispatch function in the PSC has a back- up agreement with the City of Redwood City, the police dispatch function has no back-up agreement with another facility. The PSC with the Sheriff's Office has operated a records management system called Tiburon since 1999. While it was state-of-the-art at the time, technology has evolved to the point where it is now lacking important capabilities that other local dispatch operations have. The Sheriff's Office is now in the process of transitioning to a newer records management system called RIMS, which is also used by many police dispatch operations in the County, including Daly City, South San Francisco, Foster City, Menlo Park, Pacifica, Ha1f Moon Bay, San Carlos, Belmont, Atherton, East Palo Alto and Redwood City. The conversion, expected to be complete by the end of 2012, will enhance interoperability with other cities using the RIMS system and make it easier for more cities to contract with the Sheriff for police and dispatch services in the future. Most individuals from the cities interviewed by the Grand Jury said it would not be viable for the PSC to become the sole provider of police dispatch services in the County because: • The PSC does not currently have the physical capacity at its present location to absorb all County police dispatch. • There should be at least one other dispatch center in the County, in a geographically disparate area, to manage risk. 7. Police vs. Fire Dispatch The PSC is the dispatch center for the County-wide "mutual aid" system. This means that in an emergency, whether it is for fire or police or both, public safety officials are directed to respond regardless of geographical boundaries. It is a seamless response system which is admired by all those interviewed by the Grand Jury. Fire and emergency dispatch and police dispatch operate over different networks, due in part to historical factors. However, there are real differences in response requirements. Fire and emergency response situations tend to be what are called "static" or focused on one location. When a dispatcher deals with a medical emergency he or she works from a computer driven 8