Font ResizeResident George Beebe, backed by others in the crowded meeting room at Town Hall on Monday night, skewered the Selectmen for holding fast to the plan, particularly in light of the April 9 special town meeting during which residents voiced a majority vote in favor of keeping the local dispatch desk around the clock at the police station.
Under the new plan, 911 calls will be dispatched from the Berkshire County Sheriff's Communications Center in Pittsfield, and the local station will be closed to the public after 4 p.m. An emergency phone would be installed outside the station.
The April 9 vote was a nonbinding measure, but Monday night's audience deemed it a strong enough message that the Selectmen should reconsider their decision to outsource.
Town officials have since been sparring with the police union, and technical matters are now being ironed out with the Communications Center.
"The people have spoken by an overwhelming majority that they want this proposal to be reversed," Beebe said. "I respectfully submit that you reconsider this decision, given what the people have said and how they have registered their opinion."
The Selectmen refused to reconsider. Only Selectwoman Margaret Beckwith has been outspoken in her objections to changing the dispatch operation.
In the midst of that debate, a hastily assembled petition went around the room asking the Selectmen to reopen the May 14 annual town meeting warrant to allow a formal, binding vote on the matter. The Selectmen had earlier closed the meeting warrant and refused to reopen it.
However, the matter is still in the hands of voters. They can attempt to adjust the fiscal 2008 budget at the annual town meeting to reflect increased Police Department staffing.
The context for the dispute is a management study of the Police Department conducted last year by a Virginia firm, which found morale problems and widespread management lapses in the department. Chief William R. Walsh Jr., whose leadership was found to fall short, has only recently spoken out against outsourcing the dispatch function.
The report recommended nearly 70 departmental changes, including removing high-paid police officers from desk duty and reassigning them to the street. Several dispatch options were suggested, including using civilian dispatchers on site or outsourcing the operation entirely.
Beebe's increasing frustration on Monday, and a testy exchange with Selectman Anthony Blair, escalated such that a police officer in the audience called for "decorum," and Selectman Douglas Stephenson asked the board's chairman, Peter Fish, "Peter, are you going to chair this meeting or is George going to chair this meeting?"
Stephenson said that the new staffing model, including the outsourcing of 911 calls to the Pittsfield-based dispatch center — a system used by multiple towns around the county — will add more police "on the street." That has been the key law enforcement goal of town residents, businesses and police themselves, he said.
Typically, the town has had a desk officer dispatching calls and two patrol officers, but the new system would outsource 911 calls and create a "swing shift" between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m., during which time a third officer would be patrol the streets.
The day shift typically would include the chief, an investigator and records clerk, in addition to two patrol officers.
Police are concerned about those times when just two officers are on duty — from 4 to 7 p.m. and from 3 to 8 a.m. — and when no one is at the police station. Safety issues will arise, they predict, when one officer may be booking a problematic prisoner and the second is summoned to another call.
Although the town has devised an "on call" procedure for those times, officers are not satisfied. They also believe that the police station should be an open facility around the clock, for people who may show up with an emergency.
Retiring Police Officer David Cobb told the Selectmen that the staffing model that has resulted from the decision will pose safety risks for officers.
"I probably shouldn't care, but that's not the way I feel inside," said Cobb, a reference to his pending retirement. "It's a safety issue for us. ... Someday, somebody is going to get hurt."
Residents Judy Stavisky and Jane Green spoke in favor of maintaining the dispatch center at the police station, as did Jack Seelig and Carol Vincent.
Officer Richard Keefner asked the Selectmen to allow the Police Department's new high-tech computer system to provide a year's worth of accurate data by which an informed staffing decision can be made. The system began operating in late February.
Officer Edward Scarbro said that the department's staff level has declined over the past 29 years, from about 16 officers to 12.
"I say it's an underdeveloped Police Department," he said.
Beckwith said last night that she is tired of hearing people blame Town Administrator Burke E. LaClair for the 911 dispatch decision. The decision was made by the board, and LaClair is carrying out their wishes, she said.
