37 to 6: Vermont may drastically reduce the state's number of dispatch centers

MONTPELIER, Vt. (NEWS10) -- Vermont's Department of Public Safety may make some big changes to the way emergency dispatch calls are handled. The DPS created the Public Safety Communications Task Force in June 2023 to oversee and manage the transition into a "statewide, reliable, secure, and interoperable public safety communications system."

According to the Task Force's draft report of options and plan recommendations, Vermont has 37 independently operated ecosystems including six public safety answering points and 31 dispatch centers. These ecosystems interact and coordinate with each other to serve a population of over 640,000.

The Task Force said in this report that these ecosystems lack a cohesive statewide system, strategic inclusion, adequate support and resources for dispatchers. It also said they have staffing shortages, inefficiencies, training gaps, operational inefficiencies, technological limitations, infrastructure issues, lack of failover and backup capabilities, fragmented public safety wireless environments, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

31 of the 37 centers handle 52.57% of the total statewide calls and six centers handle the rest. The Task Force points out that this is an uneven workload distribution among dispatch centers and this could be addressed with physical reorganization of the dispatch centers.

The report has four different options for this reorganization: maintain the six existing public safety answering points with four regional and two state-managed ecosystems, have two regional and four state PSAPs by reopening two previous state PSAPs, have six state PSAPs with only the number of regional dispatch centers needed to fill wireless communication gaps, or have six state PSAPs with no regional PSAPs or dispatch centers. These would be a reduction from 37 ecosystems down to six in each scenario.

The Task Force reports that this consolidation into single points of contact for police, fire, and EMS services could lead to quicker handoffs, minimize call duplications, and allow for faster decision making in emergencies. There is a full breakdown of the key features, key considerations, and overall focuses on page 88 through 92 of the draft report.

The report also has a list of where the dispatch centers could potentially be regionalized. The locations for regionalized options are with the Hartford, Shelburne, and Saint Albans Police Departments, the Westminster and Williston Barracks of the State Police, and the Lamoille County Sheriff's Office.

To submit comments on this possible reduction of dispatch centers, you can email the Task Force at DPS.PSCTaskFord@vermont.gov. The comment period ends on Friday. You can also view other people's comments they have submitted online.