CREST HAVEN – Dennis Township and Woodbine Borough are going to be Cape May’s ninth and tenth municipalities to join countywide central 911 dispatch after the Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 22 authorized a shared services agreement with those two towns.
According to Christopher Leusner, county Office of Emergency Management coordinator, Dennis and Woodbine are scheduled to join up on Oct. 1, 2025. Leusner said Sea Isle City is scheduled to go online with countywide central 911 dispatch this Dec. 1, and North Wildwood will come online Feb. 1, 2025.
“Logistically, we need that much time to bring them online,” Leusner said, referring to the October 2025 start for Dennis and Woodbine.
Currently there are six towns participating in county dispatch, Lower Township, Avalon, Stone Harbor, Middle Township, Wildwood Crest and Cape May. Within the next year, that number will rise to 12 municipalities, since Cape May Point and West Cape May have a shared services agreement with Cape May for police services. The center also serves the Cape May County Sheriff’s Office and the Prosecutor’s Office.
When the countywide central 911 dispatch system was brought online in 2018 at the Cape May Airport, Leusner’s predecessor, Marty Pagliughi, said the more towns that join, the lower the cost would be for each town.
“Cost savings was always one of the main selling points for central dispatch,” Leusner said, “as all of the participants share in paying the expenses.”
He said it takes some time to get the systems integrated to bring in the new towns and hire additional dispatchers.
“There is a transition period, integrating data, the communication systems, and we are having two towns coming in within the next six months. Logistically it needs that much time,” Leusner said. “We want to get through the summer and be in a position to provide a very high level of service to those two new towns.”
He said Dennis and Woodbine would not stress the system, as they do not have municipal police departments.
Leusner said there is a cost to hiring new dispatchers, but it does not erase the savings since more towns will share the system.
With Sea Isle City, North Wildwood, Dennis Township and Woodbine coming online by Oct. 1, 2025, that will only leave Ocean City, Wildwood, West Wildwood and Upper Township as county towns that have not joined the central dispatch system.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
