Firefighter says police have upper hand
By J.P. Ellery
Telegram & Gazette
Copyright 2007 Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
WARREN, Mass. — A call firefighter is questioning why the local dispatch center appears to be under the exclusive control of the Police Department when residents voted otherwise.
Timothy J. Czub of South Street, appearing at last week’s meeting of the Board of Selectmen, insisted that action taken at a town meeting in 1987 put control of the dispatch center in the hands of both the Fire Department and Police Department.
“All of a sudden it just went to the police,” Fire Chief James W. Dolan said during a break in the meeting.
However, in a follow-up interview, Police Chief Glenn F. McKiel disagreed. He said nothing has changed.
“The police chief and the fire chief are jointly in charge of the (dispatch) operation,” Chief McKiel said. “The police chief is in charge of matters relating to police operations and the fire chief is in charge of matters concerning fire dispatch procedure and training.”
The town’s dispatchers take calls for police, fire and ambulance services 24 hours a day.
If Chief Dolan has any training issues or issues relating to the Fire Department, he still resolves them, the police chief said.
Practicality also enters the picture, Chief McKiel said. The dispatch center is situated in Town Hall, the same as the police station, and dispatchers deal with a lot of police matters.
“We’ve analyzed it, and of the entire dispatch operation, 94 percent falls to the Police Department operation and 6 percent to the Fire Department operation,” the police chief said.
Chief McKiel said he called Chief Dolan after last week’s meeting and Chief Dolan said there were no problems, just the opposite of what he told a reporter.
Selectmen were taken by surprise by Firefighter Czub’s comments.
Selectman Martin A. Nofio said if anything different had happened regarding the dispatch center operation, it took place before he was elected three years ago.
Chief McKiel said the same thing. “If there was any change,” he said, “it was done prior to my getting here. There’s been nothing in my contract about this.”
He said he wished Firefighter Czub had come to him and then if he was still unsatisfied he could take the matter up with selectmen.