Editorial: Leominster dispatch hub a regional possibility?

As of June 1, dispatchers for Leominster's Police, Fire and EMS departments now operate under one roof.

Located at 210 Lancaster St., the public got a look at the new Joint E911 Dispatch Center during an open house on May 23. Previously, police and fire were in separate buildings on Church Street.

This renovation and new location offers both departments an opportunity to work closer together and improve response times.

The upgrade comes with all new equipment for communications and new software for computers. It also includes updated radio communication equipment for both departments, a new fire alarm system that allows for quicker notification to emergencies, and back-up communication equipment in case of a power outage.

Fire Chief Robert Sideleau believes this will "help Leominster regionalize with other departments in the area, allowing us to send and receive help when needed."

The system was constructed with triple-power redundancy, with a mix of electric-, generator- and battery-operated options.

The new dispatch center also comes with several new advancements that provide greater comfort for the dispatchers while they work, including personal air-conditioning under their desk, large desks with adjustable height, and several large monitors to allow for faster navigation between systems.

Those systems include cameras throughout the city, trackers on responding vehicles and communications among crews.

The upgrade improved the communication equipment within the department as well, including a complete back-up set to include nine separate power sources to ensure its redundancy. This new set-up makes communication between departments quicker and easier, which translates into faster response times in emergencies.

Sideleau was excited to discuss the project. He gave credit to Mayor Dean Mazzarella first and foremost.

"This wouldn't have happened without the mayor and his support," he said.

Sideleau also gave thanks to his counterpart, Police Chief Aaron Kennedy, for the great relationship between departments. He also offered thanks to 911 Coordinator Jason Barrett, who is overseeing the implementation of dispatchers in the station.

While Chief Sideleau emphasized these internal upgrades will "help Leominster regionalize with other departments in the area, allowing us to send and receive help when needed," we’re wondering if this combined operations center could serve as a regional hub, much like the Devens-based Nashoba Valley Regional Dispatch District.

The Devens’ center serves several communities, many of which were financially hard-pressed to maintain a stand-alone 24-hour dispatch operation.

There are several surrounding towns that might find the idea of a formal regional dispatch alliance with Leominster worth exploring.

Some larger urban centers, like Lowell, shied away from joining a dispatch combine of suburban towns. That occurred when the now Tewksbury-based Northern Middlesex Regional Emergency Communication Center was in its formative stages.

But Lowell's a city of about 115,000 residents, roughly three times that of Leominster.

A smaller city would be a much better fit, allowing for a more seamless assimilation.

Some towns, wary of losing dispatching control – and dispatchers – have been reluctant to go the regional route.

Those concerns led to Chelmsford opting out of the Northern Middlesex Regional center.

And the thought of relying on dispatchers unfamiliar with other communities also became a non-starter for some towns.

These concerns, while understandable, don't hold up under further scrutiny.

Despite the misgivings of other communities, participation in a regional facility doesn't lead to job dislocation, just a different job location. That means personnel familiar with a particular community should still be directing emergency calls.

Regionalization also gives employees the ability to concentrate solely on their emergency-response duties, freeing them from other clerical tasks.

That's been the norm during the transition to central dispatch locations.

In Tewksbury's and Dracut's cases, all currently employed dispatchers were given the option to transfer to the state-of-the-art, 6,500-square-foot facility that houses the Northern Middlesex Regional Emergency Communication Center.

Of course, there's a transition period associated with a move to a centralized operation.

In a Leominster scenario, personnel from other participating public-safety departments would need training on the new software, so that all communications are linked through the same platform.

Also, there are significant financial benefits for both the participating towns and host community.

A combined dispatch center should shave several thousand dollars from those towns’ budgets, since they’re no longer shouldering the expense of running an individual dispatch operation.

And since the state has encouraged the formation of these regional centers, it provides generous financial incentives to do so.

Should Leominster need to expand the size of its facility or invest in more equipment due to the addition of out-of-town dispatchers, the commonwealth will subsidize those upgrades.

It's obviously way too early to even contemplate such an eventuality, but it's never too early to visualize the benefits of that potential reality.

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