Kirkwood Residents Rise Up in Support of Emergency Dispatchers

Residents packed Thursday night in an impressive display of support for police and fire dispatchers who fear that their jobs will be outsourced to St. Louis County police and fire.

Five Kirkwood dispatchers stood next to 36-year dispatch veteran Jo Dawson as she beseeched councilors not to explore the possibility of restructuring services, during the public hearing portion of Thursday night’s meeting of the Kirkwood City Council.

“Dispatchers are the first, and sometimes last, contact residents have with the police department,” Dawson said. “They are not economics. They are the voices and faces of the community.”

Concern over restructuring surfaced among dispatchers, police officers and residents following Chief Administrative Officer Michael Brown’s message on the city’s proposed 2011 to 2012 budget, which recently was posted to the city’s website.

In his message, Brown explains that police and fire dispatches face significant issues. For example, vendors will no longer support dispatching software (CAD) after December, and upgrades to, or replacement of, software could cost upward of $250,000.

Other issues raised in the message include difficulties in training dispatchers on new software, and the dispatch center’s close proximity to the railroad that carries potentially dangerous chemicals.

“We have over 175 combined years of dispatch experience just in Kirkwood,” Dawson told councilors. “To imply that we cannot learn a new system is insulting; it’s worse than insulting.”

Dawson noted that a different company than the one that performed the latest assessment of dispatch services raised concerns over the center’s location a decade ago.

“The dispatch center is still in the same place,” she said. “This is just an issue used for outsourcing.”

Following Dawson’s remarks, a slew of speakers testified to councilors about the lifesaving work of the city’s 11 dispatchers.

Officer Dan Andert presented first.

“These people are Kirkwood,” Andert said, pointing to dispatchers in the audience. “They are reading our minds before we go out there.”

Andert said that when he is on a call and chasing a suspect, local dispatchers’ knowledge of Kirkwood is invaluable. It means dispatchers easily can track the pursuit and ensure assist cars get to where they need to be in remarkably little time.

“I don’t think that someone on the sixth floor of a building in Clayton can do as good a job,” he said, referring to the West St. Louis County dispatch center.

Contracting dispatch services with the St. Louis County Police Department is a potential alternative to Kirkwood’s current system, as outlined in Brown’s budget message.

Other alternatives include assembling contractual arrangements with surrounding cities, contracting with a dedicated fire dispatch service and rebuilding the city’s dispatch center on-site or on a separate property in Kirkwood. Brown also notes that the city could keep the system as is, or status quo.

Many residents who presented to the council in support of maintaining the current system said that contracting with the county inevitably would lead to delayed calls for service.

“You cannot put a dollar amount on one second or three seconds,” Matt Barthelmass said. “You cannot put a dollar amount on someone’s life.”

But the value of a local dispatch center is measured by more than just speed. Residents commented on how much they value the personal touch they get when calling 314-822-5858.

Tanya Craft told councilors about her 13-year-old son with autism and how his directional sense is based on landmarks more than street names. Local dispatchers immediately would know where he was located if he provided them only with a visual reference. County dispatchers could not provide the same service, she said.

Craft, like other residents, expressed concern about residents receiving an automated message if they were to call county dispatch for help. In Craft's case, she particularly is concerned that her young daughter, who is starting to learn how to call 911, would be confused by an automated message and hang up.

“A 3-year-old doesn’t understand hold time,” she said.

A total of 13 speakers presented to the council during the public hearing section of the meeting. A common sentiment expressed by speakers was that Kirkwood dispatch is part of what "makes Kirkwood Kirkwood," a community where residents care about one another and look out for each other.

A round of applause followed presenters' remarks, and the applause did not fall on deaf ears.

“The City Council is studying this very seriously, and we’re still gathering a lot of facts,” Mayor Art McDonnell said. “We know this is an issue close to your hearts, and we know that we will make the right decision.”