Hamden, North Haven Considering Regionalizing Emergency Dispatch Centers

For years the state has had in place financial incentives for municipalities to join together to regionalize services.

While few have taken up the offer, Hamden and North Haven are poised to become trailblazers as they consider joining forces to create a regional emergency dispatch center.

Police officials from the two towns laid out the plans Monday before the Hamden Legislative Council.

"This is not a new trend," said state Director of Statewide Communications Bill Youell. "It's occurring all over, and while Connecticut has offered incentives for 13 or 14 years, the take rate has not been too high."

Eventually it may become mandatory, in which case the towns of Hamden and North Haven will be ahead of the curve, he said.

"We would much rather have you chose your partners than us chose them for you," Youell said.

The state is offering funding assistance for both startup costs and ongoing costs, he said - $250,000 per town to start and an annual $240,000 allocation, he said.

"The dollars are in place and it is our intent to make this happen," he said.

"Hamden and North Haven are visionaries leading the charge, and we will do whatever we can do to make it work," he said.

While it's expected to save money, the arrangement will also benefit public safety, Youell said.

"Combining more dispatchers into one room means better service," he said. "If a serious event occurs, it is so much better to have more dispatchers in one room - it's truly more efficient."

The combined dispatch center would be located in the new Hamden Police Department, which was designed with regionalization in mind, according to Hamden Police Chief Thomas Wydra.

"In my opinion, eventually this is going to become a mandate," he said. "We would rather be ahead of the curve, and our dispatch center was built with an eye for growth that includes regionalization."

"For Connecticut, this is pretty innovative, " said North Haven Deputy Police Chief Jonathan Mulhern.

The chief elected officials have an excellent relationship, Mulhern said, as do the Police and Fire departments, which makes the arrangement ideal.

There is still much to be done before the partnership can be finalized, including labor union issues.

But, "it's truly a win/win situation for both towns," said Hamden Police IT Director Mario DeNatale. It also resolves a storage problem at the Hamden Police Department at no cost to taxpayers, he said, that was estimated to cost $250,000.

The arrangement won't cost Hamden taxpayers anything, Mulhern said, and will likely save the town money long-term.