4
T he C olumbia P ress
November 15, 2019
911: County deals
with sketchy service,
bad technology
Continued from Page 1
tems across the country, one of the
major obstacles to interoperability,
at the regional level, is having mul-
tiple PSAPs,” the agency’s report
states. “Combining the two relative-
ly small centers into one is recom-
mended.”
All of the studies concluded that
neither facility is adequate in staff-
ing or space needs, Rusiecki said.
Mayor Henry Balensifer relayed
an experience he had several years
ago while riding along with a sher-
iff’s deputy in Hamlet. The officer
was dispatched to a domestic vio-
lence call.
“There were eight people in the
building and no radio reception and
that gets a little scary,” Balensifer
said.
In 1999, each agency had its own
radio system, records management
software and Seaside used a dif-
ferent computer-aided dispatch
program, Rusiecki said. No agency
could share information without
great difficulty.
The 2007 windstorm magnified
the vulnerabilities. Iimprovements
have been made, but there are still
communication problems.
Grants and other funding has
been available for consolidations
and other improvements, but lead-
ers countywide haven’t made that
move.
“Shame on us,” Rusiecki said.
“Technology is expensive and for us
to sit here for 30 to 40 years with
our head in the sand and not ask for
it (funding) is wrong.”
Balensifer has been a proponent
of consolidating the centers and
brought it up more than a year ago
during an annual meeting of county-
wide elected officials.
“Astoria seemed to have a little
pushback and Seaside did as well,”
Balensifer said.
The goal is for a centralized 911
center to have control over all the
mountaintop equipment, Rusiecki
said, and to have technology admin-
istration under one authority.