Stanislaus County, Calif., Discusses Improving 911 Response

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(TNS) — Stanislaus County leaders held a discussion Tuesday about call transfer times as they sorted through an ongoing controversy over emergency dispatch services.

Supervisors said they want to see vetted cost figures soon for a Sheriff’s Office proposal to partner with the Ceres dispatch center for 911 calls in the unincorporated areas and the contract cities of Riverbank, Hughson, Patterson and Waterford.

“Time is of the essence,” Supervisor Terry Withrow said, adding that the board needs vetted cost figures from the Sheriff’s Office by Feb. 25.

The other choice, supported by the Stanislaus Regional 911 governing board, is implementing a CentralSquare computer-assisted dispatch system and maintaining the 25-year-old joint powers authority that has operated dispatch service for the Sheriff’s Office, Modesto police, fire departments, County Fire and the Probation Department.

Sheriff Jeff Dirkse wants his department to leave the JPA and use an Oracle CAD system in an expanded Ceres dispatch center.

Stanislaus Regional 911 has an average call processing time of 47 seconds and has to make a transfer to another center for an emergency medical service (EMS) call, which adds 34 seconds, staff said. Critics of the sheriff’s proposal said the Ceres dispatch center would need one call transfer for dispatching fire units through SR-911 and two time-consuming transfers for an ambulance response.

According to standards, each transfer requires an additional step in which dispatch personnel ask the caller’s name, phone number and nature of the emergency.

SR-911 Executive Director Kasey Young said the transfer creates the potential for a dropped call, caller frustration and getting confusing information from the caller in a dire emergency. Those medical calls may be for emergencies including a heart attack, choking, stroke, childbirth or a pedestrian struck by a car.

During the meeting, SR-911 staff played recordings of actual emergency dispatches that required transferred calls.

County Fire Warden Erik Klevmyr, who’s also director of county emergency services, said he supports consolidation of dispatch services. “I have not met a fire chief who would support a deliberate increase to response times,” Klevmyr said.

SR-911 has a Feb. 19 deadline to complete configuration of the CentralSquare CAD system and plans readiness testing in July, before activating the system for 911 calls on Sept. 15. Dirkse’s proposal could expand the Ceres center and implement the Oracle system in six to 12 months, the sheriff said last week.

Supervisor Channce Condit said a memo from a Ceres dispatch supervisor indicated there’s only one transfer for an EMS incident handled by that center. The transfer to fire dispatch and ambulance service is done simultaneously, the memo said.

Condit, a former Ceres councilman, was on the council when the Ceres dispatch center partnered with Newman police.

Young said Stanislaus Regional 911 is exploring consolidation of EMS dispatch with the regional center, which would eliminate call transfers.

Dirkse told supervisors that multi-agency dispatch centers are unusual in California. Most counties have law enforcement-only dispatch centers, typically operated by sheriff’s departments.

Withrow said that unfortunately, the conversation became about competing CAD systems, but the goal should be keeping the JPA together. “Staying together is the most efficient way to provide service,” Withrow said. “The technology won’t outweigh the benefits of a consolidated 911 service.”

Withrow said one option may be to use the CentralSquare CAD for awhile and then pivot to another software program if there are problems.