Flanked by colleagues from the Vero Beach Police Department’s dispatch unit, 20-year department veteran Kari Ryan read a lengthy statement to the Vero Beach City Council expressing concernes about the consequences of closing the unit.
One budget-cutting move proposed by City Manager Jim O’Connor, as he looks for ways to trim more than $2 million from the General Fund budget, is to close the Police Department’s dispatch department and merge it with the County’s 911 call center.
Ryan told the Council, the City of Sebastian merged its emergency call center with the County’s. Not pleased with the results, Sebastian leaders decided to reestablish their own dispatch department.
Ryan reminded the Council of how the City’s dispatch department served a vital backup role after the 2004 hurricanes, when the County’s system was down.
Vero Beach’s emergency dispatcher, Ryan pointed out, have also help offerces solve a number of crimes through their quick response.
The following is full text of Ryan’s statement to the City Council.
As stated in a Proclamation given on April 2nd, 2013 during National Telecommunicators week…
”Emergencies can occur at any time that requires police services. When an emergency occurs the prompt response of Police Officers is critical to the protection of life & preservation of property. The safety of our Police Officers is dependent upon the quality and accuracy of information obtained from citizens who telephone the VBPD’s 911 Communications Center. Public Safety Dispatchers are the first and most critical contact our citizens have with emergency services. They are the single vital link for our Police Officers by monitoring their activities by radio and providing them information and insuring their safety. Dispatchers of the VBPD have contributed substantially to the apprehension of criminals and each Dispatcher has exhibited compassion, understanding and professionalism during the performance of their jobs.
In fact I believe before the Proclamation Mayor Fletcher’s exact words from the meeting were…”Every time you pick up that phone you can be assured that there is someone on the other end that gives a damn.”
Well we are those dispatchers. We are the dispatchers, who since January of this year up until yesterday have handled 15,722 phone calls. We have entered 39,082 various calls for service. Of those 402 were EMS calls. Unlike most agencies, we dispatch and arrive on scene at EMS calls most often before Emergency Services does. On April 16th, 2013 this council recognized one of our own for a lifesaving event. It was back on November 28th, 2012 when a local citizen suffered sudden cardiac arrest. Dispatch quickly sent an officer who successfully resuscitated the man. Due to quick dispatching and response, Vero Beach Police was the first on scene.
Dispatch has also played an integral part in crime solving. On November 5th, 2010 there was a bank robbery at TD bank. Dispatch was instrumental in successfully tracking the bait money and directing officers to the suspect. Again on November 15th, 2012 there was a bank robbery at Florida Community Bank. With a description of the getaway veh, dispatch tracked down all similar vehicles in the county that matched and ran the registered owners. We narrowed it down to 2 poss suspects, printed out pictures of them and gave them to our detectives. When detectives interviewed the witnesses’ one witness picked out the suspect from the information dispatch had provided. Teamwork between dispatch & the officers is what has lead VBPD to have the highest crime clearance rate. A clearance rate of 42.8% with a 14.1% drop in crime for 2012 is quite impressive.
Our dispatch center is considered a secondary Public Safety Answering Point. While we get our own city 911 calls directly this means we are the backup 911 center to Indian River and they are ours. This may not be a big deal however when there is a major incident in the county their phones ring over to us and vice versa. During the storms in 2004 the Indian River Co SO sustained major damage to their 911 center. Being a secondary Public Safety Answering Point we were able to quickly take control and smoothly transition the 911 calls from the county until the Sheriff’s office was able to set up at the Police Dept. There were also many 911 calls for out of our county. We also handle overflow calls from T&D when they get busy.
We are there to provide many services no one would ever think. Many times the department has acted as a safe haven. There have been many instances where people run to the department looking for safety. Whether they are adults running from an abusive situation or they are children seeking refuge before DCF can safely pick them up, we are there. Closing the department at night should not be an option if we seek to provide the highest service our city residents and visitors deserve.
Dispatch also performs many tasks behind the scenes. For example dispatch is now monitoring 2 cameras outside of council chambers. We do this for the safety of you, our city council. For the safety of our police officers we monitor cameras inside the jail. In fact today we had a combative female in our jail. Dispatch was able to send backup to assist the lone officer with the female. Dispatch is always present 24/7 at the police dept. When someone calls the police dept no matter what time day or night they get a live person and not an automated system. We do not take reports over the internet and respond an officer no matter what the call. One would not think of sending an officer to a noise complaint and we do have local agencies that don’t respond to noise. However we do. On November 17th, 2011, we sent an officer to a suspicious noise in the 600 block of Fiddlewood. Unfortunately our worst fears were realized when it was not really a noise complaint. The Simpson homicide was a tragedy however it could have been more tragic had a police officer not made the discovery.
Having control over you own dispatch center means you can dictate what services you want to provide to your citizens. Not long ago Sebastian Police Dept did not have their own 911 center. They however fought hard to regain control over their dispatch center and can cite many officer and community safety issues.
While many services may seem menial they are not. Consider Animal calls. We dispatched 628 animal calls since January of this year. We are lucky to have an experienced animal control officer that is knowledgeable to so much more than dogs & cats. Whenever there is a manatee, sea turtle, bird or snake call we respond. Many times sick or injured animals are a public safety issue.
I am sure when you begin your budget hearings you will ask for Chief Currey’s opinion. I know Chief Currey will tell you how vital dispatch is to the success of the Police Departments Mission and how vital we are to the citizens of the City of Vero Beach. If I can again close with Mayor Fletchers comments from the Proclamation “…You can see how important it is that you have someone on the other end of the line that is really well trained and cares. These people are unsung heroes for sure.” Thank you for your time and consideration.
Fletchers comments on Proclamation 04/02/13
Every time you pick up that phone you can be assured that there is someone on the other end that gives a damn and its these people are so well trained and most people don’t realize that they have to take within seconds a certain precise concise amount of information from someone that’s usually very very excited and translate that into instructions for a police officer so the police officer can the there within allotted time.
Indian River Guardian 
I support our Vero Beach Police Department! I keep hearing that similarly-sized communities in Florida don’t have as many employees or offer as many services. I haven’t heard anyone tell me why any of us would want to pull up stakes and move to any of those communities. Our police department is a tremendous asset.
Our 911 folks are THE most important asset that we have. To even insinuate that the call center could be on the chopping block is insane.
In a community with our demographics, it is essential to have this highly regarded team. If the County Sheriffs office dispatch had anywhere near the record of COVB dispatchers, then maybe look at it. These people are doing an amazing job. Don’t threaten them.
They, however, could have picked a more subtle way of making their
point and certainly could have picked a better night to do it.
It broke my heart to see these dedicated employees have to defend themselves in front of a city council that doesn’t seem to value them. I was looking at each of them thinking, these are people with families to support! Yes, we may need to cut the budget here and there, but some on our current council are using the “amputation” methodology.
Have you seen the benchmark studies? Vero came out quite well in comparison to similar communities. I’ve about had it with the Tea Party, Taxpayer’s Association, and the limited government crowd in this town. While they all have some merit, they seem hellbent on getting rid of everything that is not “essential.” Well, that is very subjective. I like the amenities here in Vero and am willing to pay for them. Let’s support our city employees!
Many who advocate for “limited government” are, in fact, taking refuge behind an innocuous term, as they wage class warfare. I suspect the greater the income disparity in a community, the more likely you are to see the top one or two percent filling their idle time pushing for limited government. That is certainly what we see happening here in Verro Beach. The middle class, struggling to keep from sliding into poverty, has neither the time no the resources to defend itself against those who seek to eliminate all but the most essential of essential government services. For example, if one can pay cash for a new luxury car, it is easy to dismiss the need for public transportation. We have certainly heard that argument from a leader in the local Tea Party.
No one would argue that a police officers job isn’t tough or dangerous. Having that lifeline, that part of the team, that knows where they are, what they may be confronting, has the ability to immediately provide them backup, not to mention has a personal working relationship, which translates to mutual trust is invaluable. Dispatch is a vital link in the chain. Weaken any link and the whole chain loses. Ms. Ryan did an outstanding presentation. Consider her words carefully.