Police Dept. May Be Ready to Civilianize

Attitude about civilianization of public safety communications are strong at some agencies, but Medford (Mass.) may be ready to make the change. A story in the local newspaper quotes police chief Leo Sacco Jr. saying that 911 callers used to prefer speaking to an officer. “I think times have changed a bit,” he said. He told the reporter that call center technology advancements “in 1997″ made fielding 911 calls easier, so many communities began training civilians to do the job. “I look at other communities that have civilian dispatch and it seems to work pretty well for them,” said Sacco said. Actually, Sacco is facing a budget cut, and is looking for a way to avoid any police officer lay-offs. He’d pay civilians $30,000 to $35,000 instead of an officer’s $50,000 to perform dispatching. Read the entire article here.