CURRENT ENVIRONMENT

 

The City of Hermosa Beach is 1.3 square miles and provides police and fire services to a population of approximately 20,000 citizens. The Police Department operates out of one building with an authorized strength of 36 sworn personnel and 17 non-sworn personnel. Field units include 10 patrol vehicles, two beach patrol vehicles, five motor units and ten investigator/administrative units. The Fire Department also operates out of one fire station with an authorized strength of 19 Firefighters. Field units include three fire engines, two rescue units and two support vehicles.

 

DISPATCHING OPERATIONS

The Hermosa Beach Police Department has been providing police and fire dispatch services since approximately 1989. The police dispatch center is comprised of two dispatch consoles with a authorized staff of 6 public safety dispatchers. Prior to 1988, the City of Hermosa Beach was a member of the South Bay Regional Public Communications Authority located in Hawthorne, California.

In 1999 Hermosa Beach dispatchers handle over 20,000 calls for police service, 1208 fire and paramedic calls and 2543 calls for parking and animal control. Generally there is only one dispatcher on duty at any given time. Though there are overlaps of personnel, generally there is one dispatcher on duty that acts as the complaint taker and dispatcher for police, fire and general service calls. One of the six dispatchers is a lead supervising dispatcher. Within the past few weeks, one of the senior dispatchers resigned to take up employment with the County of Orange.

 

TECHNOLOGY

As with any modern communications center, the Hermosa Beach Police Department utilizes technology to support dispatch operations. The different types of technology is as follows:

• Computer Aided Dispatch System (CAD) – The CAD is a PC based system running on software developed and supported by the West Covina Police Department. The City of Hermosa Beach has contracted with the City of West Covina for this service since 1996.

• Records Management System (RMS) – The RMS is a PC based system running on software developed and supported by the West Covina Police Department. The City also contracts for this service from the City of West Covina.

• Other Equipment – Includes a GTE 911 system that has been upgraded by GTE several times over the past few years. There is a Dictaphone call recorder (1997) and the entire dispatch center is supported by an UPS (uninterrupted power source) and diesel generator.

• Base Stations and Repeaters – The main police frequency is broadcast from a base station and repeater located at the Hermosa View School, 1800 Prospect. The repeater and base station for General Services is located at the Police Department and the fire tower. There is no repeater for the Fire Department frequency. This channel is broadcast on a line of sight basis also known as direct or car to car. The antenna is located atop the fire tower and as fire units move farther away from the city borders, the reception drops off.

 

ALTERNATIVES

There are four (4) options available to the City of Hermosa Beach to fulfill its future emergency communications/dispatching needs and requirements. They are as follows:

B. Maintain a stand-alone dispatch center with recommended upgrades.

Contract for public safety dispatching services from an outside source.

There are several advantages and disadvantages to maintaining a stand-alone system as has been done for the past 10 years or to contract out for public safety dispatching services. Generally, what stands as an advantage to one option serves as a disadvantage to the other option and vice a versa. What follows is a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of both options.

 

ALTERNATIVES A & B – MAINTAINING AND UPGRADING EXISITING DISPATCH OPERATION

This option assumes that the City makes a commitment in time and money to maintaining and upgrading the in-house dispatch operation. Maintaining the status quo (Alternative A) is not a real option for the long term. Changes will have to be made in the next few years to upgrade and enhance the existing operation. The upgrades that need to take place are in three general areas as follows:

 

Advantages to Maintaining an In-house Dispatch Center

• More direct control of costs in regards to personnel, equipment, contracts and upgrades.

• More direct control of the delivery of dispatching services to the public. More direct control of response times, policies and procedures, selection of personnel and maintenance contracts.

• More direct control of future service levels

• In-house dispatching staff is more familiar with the City

 

Disadvantages to Maintaining an In-house Dispatch Center

• The costs associated with upgrading the current operation including an increase in staffing

• Maintaining a complex and complicated infrastructure of dispatch, radio, and support equipment

• In –house operation is more costly to operate

• Mandates constant personnel coverage despite limited staffing, vacations and sickness in addition to on-going training requirements

• Increasing difficulty to maintain competitive salaries and benefits with surrounding public safety dispatch centers (such as Torrance, Redondo Beach, the RCC and now El Segundo)

• Administrative costs in running a dispatch center (civil liability, employee disputes and discipline, benefits, hiring, training)

• Generally one dispatcher working at any given time. (unless there is an increase in staffing) In the event of an emergency situation, dispatcher becomes overwhelmed with phone and radio traffic.

• Inability to provide relief to on-duty dispatcher (when only one dispatcher is on-duty) when restroom and other breaks are required

• In-house staff is not EMD trained

• ISO rating is lower since there are not two dispatchers on duty at all times

 

ALTERNATIVES C & D – CONTRACTING OUT FOR DISPATCH SERVICES

There are two realistic alternatives associated with this option. The City of El Segundo has submitted a proposal to provide Hermosa Beach with dispatch services for police and fire. The City of El Segundo is currently building a brand new state of the art dispatch center. El Segundo is committed to providing a high level of dispatch services to the citizens of El Segundo and Hermosa Beach.

The RCC in Hawthorne would also like Hermosa Beach to come back and be a member of their regional dispatch center. The RCC has submitted some very rough cost figures. The RCC is in the process of building a new facility and upgrading all of their equipment. Land has been secured in Hawthorne and RCC is seeking additional funding to move forward. While El Segundo is farther ahead on their building process, the RCC has a current operation that if fully functional although using old equipment. The RCC also has the experience of managing a multi-regional dispatch center and they have an existing infrastructure of repeaters, radio towers and voting receivers. The RCC also carries liability insurance.

 

Advantages for Contracting out for Dispatch Services

• Regionalization – sharing of resources and frequencies

• Cost sharing with other participating agencies

• State of the art facility and equipment

• Same or better level of dispatching service

• No requirement to maintain an expensive and complex infrastructure of communications system

• Less costly to participate in

• No requirement to recruit and hire new dispatchers

• No need to be concerned about the increasing difficulty of maintaining competitive salaries and benefits with surrounding public safety dispatch centers.

• No outlay of administrative costs to run a dispatch center (employee disputes and discipline, benefits, MOUs, hiring, training)

• Reduce if not eliminate civil liability (in area of police and fire dispatching)

• Adequate staffing – more than one dispatcher working at a time. Improves ISO rating that will benefit commercial properties with lower fire insurance rates.

• Better coordination of communications between participating cities

• Dispatchers are EMD (Emergency Medical Dispatcher) trained

• Availability of a modern EOC (Emergency Operations Center) in a time of crisis (El Segundo)

 

Disadvantages for Contracting out for Dispatch Services

• Less direct control of annual contract cost

• Less direct control over the delivery of dispatching services to the public. Less direct control of response times, policies and procedures and selection of personnel

• Less direct control of future costs and contract increases

• Initial dispatching staff is not familiar with the City of Hermosa Beach and internal procedures (unless the five existing dispatchers are hired by El Segundo)

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