Central Dispatch Operational in May? Director Hopes to Attain Goal

CREST HAVEN – According to Director of the Office of Emergency Management Martin Pagliughi, municipalities in Cape May County are taking a “wait-and-see” attitude towards the new $2.1-million countywide dispatch/911 system. 
“They want to see how radio coverage of their areas of the county is improved,” he stated in a recent interview. “They also want to see the costs, and I can’t blame them for that” he added.
As reported in October 2017, the project will create a modern emergency communications center that will unify all county police and fire departments, plus emergency medical and OEM dispatch functions.
The existing 14,000-square-foot Lower Township Public Safety Building at the Cape May County Airport is in the final stages of a renovation that includes installing $1.2 million in telecommunications equipment within the next few weeks.
According to Pagliughi, the new system will improve the ability to locate callers who need assistance, although the problem of pinpointing cellphone callers’ exact locations will remain until a solution to the cellphone issue is finalized.
As of now, the system can track cellphone callers to the nearest cell tower, but no closer. Pagliughi stated that he has Lower Township as the sole confirmed participant in the system, but he has two additional “handshake” agreements with communities who see the value in consolidation.
Costs
Pagliughi stressed that just because there are fewer towns initially participating in the system, that does not mean that those towns must shoulder a larger share of the costs.
Each municipality will be assessed a portion of the costs of the new system, based solely on the volume of calls that each municipality generates.
Pagliughi stated that the “up-front” costs of the system have already been absorbed by the county by way of a bond issue, and so, as more municipalities join the system, those county-level costs will be reduced.
Each additional participant added into the system will take at least four to five months to become operational. Pagliughi explained that the system could not possibly add municipalities at a faster rate because each existing system needs to absorb thousands of addresses into the new database, and differences in the format and input elements of each current dispatch system must be resolved for each new municipality that joins.
Pagliughi also confirmed that even those existing systems that still use VHF, or very high-frequency technology could join the new system because the new technology can accommodate both VHF and 700-800 MHz systems.
Pagliughi is cautiously optimistic that the new system will become operational in May of this year.
To contact Jim McCarty, email jmccarty@cmcherald.com.