Why we should keep Bangor’s dispatch center

Yes, there is great controversy over whether the city of Bangor should use the services of the Penobscot Regional Communications Center (PRCC). Funding is always a problem. Originally, as Bangor police dispatchers, we were told the city of Bangor wanted to save money and would combine police and fire dispatch centers, so we each became duel certified in each other’s job. Some of us lost our seniority when we combined, yet we remained.

July will mark the second year of our combining, and again the County Commissioners have proposed and now “charged” the city of Bangor for an unwanted dispatch service, hoping to force Bangor’s hand in the matter. The Bangor dispatchers have been pulled in every direction for more than 25 years, always wondering if they have career with the city. We continually have had to justify, argue and stress our existence as a viable entity. We feel “as pawns” in a political struggle to let the county know that Bangor is not happy being forced to pay for dispatch services, twice. This was apparent with the Bangor City Council’s vote to revisit this issue again next year. We wonder if the city will keep us as a new police station and dispatch center must be funded. Our problems trying to get quality people to even apply for a job that seems temporary at best, continues leaving Bangor dispatch in a hiring limbo. We remain as frustrated as before the city council’s vote on May 13. Anyone who thinks public safety dispatching is just a phone answering service is sadly mistaken.

The answers do not come down to whether the PRCC dispatchers are better than the Bangor dispatchers. Bangor’s dispatchers have always worked hand-in-hand with the PRCC dispatchers. Some Bangor dispatchers work part-time for the PRCC. For the services they provide, the PRCC dispatchers are highly trained, competent professionals in every sense of the word.

The difference between us lies in how each of the centers are tasked on a daily basis. Bangor’s dispatchers have to deal with many unique scenarios that the PRCC dispatchers do not. For instance, the PRCC relies on the state police to handle many situations in the county such as:

. Special Response Teams (SRT)

. Hostage negotiations

. Homicide/suicide scenes

. Bomb calls

The PRCC dispatchers deal less often with Bangor Mental Health Institute and Acadia Hospital’s unique problems, including many healthcare and substance abuse treatment facilities in Bangor. Eastern Maine Medical Center, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Brewer Rehabilitation also have operational agreements with Bangor for various routine and emergency responses. As they are aware of its many complexities, Bangor Fire and Police Departments rely on the skills and experience of its Dispatch Center personnel. Bangor’s dispatchers must be knowledgeable and react quickly to many unique scenarios that pertain “only” to the city of Bangor, and seconds in this business, count. Our sustained ability to perform effectively allows officers in the field to save lives, catch criminals, limit damage to property, and keep officers and the public safe.

Bangor Police have their own Special Response Teams (SRT), K-9 units, bomb team technicians and equipment, criminal investigation division (which handles homicides/suicides), hostage negotiations, accident reconstructionists, motorcycle patrol, police bike patrols (supporting the downtown business section and search/rescue helicopter crew members. It also has a police airport division, which handles all aspects of law enforcement affecting Bangor International Airport.

The Bangor Fire has the training and equipment to handle: High rise structure fires, brush fires, Personal injury traffic accidents, trapped persons extrication, ice and water rescues, tactical/elevation rescues, mass casualty incidents, hazardous material response, emergency ambulance responses and routine patient transfers.

The fundamental difference in Dispatching Services lies in dispatcher rotation. The PRCC dispatchers are rotated daily. Secondary is call screening and how calls are handled. The PRCC dispatchers do not deal with the same towns and locations day-to-day. Bangor dispatchers deal with just Bangor and in doing so, handle more calls for service per year than the PRCC. Call screening guidelines in how Bangor dispatchers operate, differs greatly with the PRCC.

Next, the PRCC has a higher worker turnover rate. The PRCC has a problem keeping personnel, contending their low pay, as mentioned in last week’s Bangor Daily News article penned by the PRCC dispatchers. The PRCC maintains a solid core of experienced dispatchers and dispatch supervisors who remain committed and pass their knowledge and experience to their new hires. Transferring Bangor’s dispatch services to the PRCC, and requiring their dispatchers to learn, train and integrate a multitude of the city’s unique law enforcement and fire department operations, is beyond any dispatcher’s capability. Each dispatcher would have to be totally familiar with Bangor, in addition to all the other towns in Penobscot County where they provide service.

This is the heart of the controversy. Bangor’s police chief, fire chief, firefighters and police officers know that with rotational dispatching, it can’t be done. You are simply asking too many people to remember too much information, then expect them to perform in a manner consistent with Bangor’s present services. There are those who are very vocal, trying to sell the public on “regionalization” as the only way to go for Bangor’s future.

If you add a gallon of water to a gallon of whiskey, you don’t get two gallons of whiskey, but advocates of “regionalization” would tell you that you do. Applying reasoning to dispatch services leaves you with a lot of people that know a little about everything. Whether we, in the Bangor Dispatch Center, remain or not, is not the point we have tried to convey. We have tried to say that we are specialists in what we do, and whoever takes the reigns of dispatching for the city, must be fundamentally dedicated to “just serving the city of Bangor.” To do any less, places the police officers, firefighters and citizens of Bangor in jeopardy. That’s not a scare tactic, it’s just a fact.

John W. Hammett works at the Bangor Dispatch Center.