The way emergency calls are handled in Middletown, Dauphin County, could be changing. The borough has it's own emergency police dispatch center that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"Once that call is received directly to Middletown, we can get that advantage by quicker & immediate response directly from the call taker to the first responder," says Detective Dave Sweitzer, who is President of the Middletown Police Officers Assoc.
The Police Officers Assoc. is in favor of keeping the communications center operating as is. It employs six full-time and two part-time workers & costs the borough about $350.000 a year. It's a cost Borough Council is contemplating ways to reduce. They are looking at ways to consolidate costs. One idea is to have an on-duty police officer man the center for four hours a day and a police secretary in charge for another four hours.
"It would mean one less shift per day, which would save the Borough approximately $100,000," says Borough Manager David Clouser.
But the President of Teamsters Local No. 776 says that would violate the employees current contract.
"It's a breach of contract, there's a contract in place we just negotiated the contract & if there's a violation of that contract, we would pursue that," says Robert Snyder, Jr.
Borough Council is still reviewing the options; the issue could be placed on the agenda for a full vote at next month's meeting.
"Once that call is received directly to Middletown, we can get that advantage by quicker & immediate response directly from the call taker to the first responder," says Detective Dave Sweitzer, who is President of the Middletown Police Officers Assoc.
The Police Officers Assoc. is in favor of keeping the communications center operating as is. It employs six full-time and two part-time workers & costs the borough about $350.000 a year. It's a cost Borough Council is contemplating ways to reduce. They are looking at ways to consolidate costs. One idea is to have an on-duty police officer man the center for four hours a day and a police secretary in charge for another four hours.
"It would mean one less shift per day, which would save the Borough approximately $100,000," says Borough Manager David Clouser.
But the President of Teamsters Local No. 776 says that would violate the employees current contract.
"It's a breach of contract, there's a contract in place we just negotiated the contract & if there's a violation of that contract, we would pursue that," says Robert Snyder, Jr.
Borough Council is still reviewing the options; the issue could be placed on the agenda for a full vote at next month's meeting.
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