South City a "Model" For Police Consolidation

Wednesday evening, City Council will address the San Mateo Civil Grand Jury report released in July, which recommended several cities in the county consolidate police, fire and emergency dispatch services.  

The council is scheduled to decide on an official response to the report.  

The jury report stated there is "a redundancy of dispatch centers in our county," and that some of them should be consolidated.

In recent years, San Mateo County has consolidated dispatch centers, decreasing from 22 to today's 13 that field 9-1-1 calls and dispatch information to local police, fire and emergency staff.

South San Francisco, which dispatches in part for both Colma and Pacifica, is "almost a model as what can be done across the county," said Bruce E. MacMillan of the Civil Grand Jury.

"All the cities that have consolidated - and the taxpayers in those cities - have benefitted fiscally from consolidation," the report stated. "Cities that have consolidated this service with other cities report no drop-off in the quality of service."

The report encouraged police departments to collaborate on dispatch centers, which receive emergency calls, but not with actual police forces on the ground. The partnerships, MacMillan told Patch, "are invisible from the field, so it's just like calling your own town."

The report indicated that, on average, cities that have consolidated save approximately $11.59 per 9-1-1 call. A city that operates its own dispatch center spends roughly $30.04 per call; South San Francisco spends $27 per call. By consolidating, that number could be taken down to around $18.45.

According to MacMillan, costs for these calls are mostly compensation for the dispatchers, but also for up-to-date equipment.

In 2011, Pacifica contracted police dispatch services to South San Francisco. This move was expected to save Pacifica $300,000 in its first year of the new system.

South City has also provided night dispatch services to the City of Colma since the 1980's, saving Colma the cost of hiring two distpatchers.

In July 2011, when the South San Franciscoto have police dispatch for Pacifica, the agreement included a $600,000 payment from Pacifica to South City.

Part of what gives South City the capability to expand its dispatching services to other towns is its relatively new dispatching system, according to MacMillan. The Grand Jury report stated that South San Francisco could also cut overhead costs by bringing on a partner if future improvements to the system are needed.

"There's a lot of pressure on police departments right now," MacMillan said. "Each city is looking for a less expensive way of doing things." 

"These identity markers of years past that people were so proud of are gone," MacMillan said, pointing to the San Carlos Police Department that was taken over by the Sheriff's Office in 2010, as an example.

The San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury is a 19-person independent investigative body that acts as "an arm of the court." According to its webpage, the jury serves as a "watchdog for citizens of the county" and "consience of the community."

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