Re: 911:: AOL story about Chattanooga 9-1-1 continued

[Guest guest]

Coming from Hamilton Co. Sheriff;s dept at one time, I will have to say that

the story about Chattanooga 911 is very slightly incorrect...

911 has nothing to do with the dispatch... It is the Chattanooga Police

Department that has the problem. 911 in Hamilton County only provides the

building, equipment and software. etc.. not personnel. The personnel is still

provided by the agencies. Chattanooga Police Dept, Hamilton Co Sheriff;s Depart,

Hamilton Co EMS, and East Ridge. They are all in the same building, but they do

not answer each others calls. EMS is a secondary PSAP as they get all med

and fire calls, except for Chattanooga's.

Several years ago, it was started to combine the center.. Hamilton Co raised

its employees to match what Chattanooga PD was making (working at Hamilton

Co, I made 3,000 less than my counterpart at Chattanooga just across the room)

and were working on settling the question on retirement, It being an

election year, Mayor Kimsey gave city employees a 5% across the board raise plus

their step increases. This just blew everything out of the water.

Maybe now, they will get everything on one page and consolidate. Chattanooga

has a lack of staffing that has hurt them as well as the Chief of Police

ordering no overtime. As all of you know, you can run one officer short... but

you can't run short in dispatch... You have to have every seat filled to work

efficiently.

Riggs