[Scan-DC] New emergency dispatch center sits on the cutting edge

[Blair Thompson]

New emergency dispatch center sits on the cutting edge

http://www.alextimes.com/news/2011/nov/16/new-emergency-dispatch-center-sits-on-th/

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16 2011 
By Derrick Perkins

Standing beside a desk covered in computers, a bank of monitors tracking incident reports coming in from around the city lining the wall, Jo-Anne Munroe recalls how far public safety dispatching has come in her career.
....

Though consolidating police and fire communications into a single, independent department is new to Alexandria the idea is not. Arlington County boasts a unified communications department as does Newport News as well as other jurisdictions across the country. 

Former City Manager Jim Hartmann originally pitched the concept in Alexandria, said Michele Evans, deputy city manager. A study finished by consultant firm L. Robert Kimball and Associates in 2008 recommended several options for consolidating emergency communications — until that point handled individually by the police and fire departments — and city council opted to create a new city department two years later, Evans said.


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