City Poised to Take Over Pacifica Dispatch Services

The South San Francisco Police Department is poised to take over police dispatch services for the city of Pacifica.

The Pacifica city council has already approved the arrangement, and tonight, the South San Francisco city council will vote on the draft contract.

If approved, the contract will span three years. Pacifica will pay South San Francisco $600,000 in the 2011-2012 fiscal year, $612,000 in 2012-2013 and $624,240 in 2013-2014. 

San Mateo County has recently been exploring options to combine services provided by police agencies within the county, and South San Francisco Police Chief Police Michael Massoni believes that if the contract is approved, it would be a step in the correct direction.

Massoni cited the idea of having only one dispatch center as beneficial in terms of dispatching units that are closer to service calls.

“One of the benefits is that we do border each other,” Massoni said. “So if significant events were to happen close to either city, the dispatchers are right next to each other, knowing that maybe a South City unit is closer to a major call for service, and they could send a South City unit to assist Pacifica immediately.”

“You’re never 100 percent positive, but my feeling is the council will support it,” Massoni said. “They’ve been looking at ways to consolidate services throughout the county and I think this is a step.”

The agreement is thought to save Pacifica between $280,000 and $300,000 annually, according to Pacifica Police Captain Dave Bertini.

“It will be beneficial to us financially," Massoni said. "What we’re charging Pacifica covers the added personnel that we have to bring on to dispatch for them. Then there are other expenses for overhead and other things.”

However, that the switch may have on Pacifica.

The Pacifica Police Station will no longer be open 24 hours a day, and Pacifica Police will endure a transition period in becoming acclimated to new dispatchers. In addition, some in Pacifica fear that South San Francisco dispatchers may not be as familiar with their neighboring town.

Massoni understands the difficulties of acclimating to a new system but said he believes response time and effectiveness of police will not be compromised.

“I understand, but acclimation time—that happens whenever we put new police officers on the street or hire a new dispatcher, so essentially, they’ll be dispatching the calls in as timely a fashion as they are now,” Massoni said. “They’ll also be responding as quickly as possible. I really don’t see an issue that will have significant impact on response times in Pacifica or South San Francisco.”