PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER TO GET MAJOR UPGRADE
Vital communications center to get 21st century technology
COMMITTEE NEWS RELEASE: October 10, 2007
Contact: Chris Giliberti, Committee Coordinator: Tel: (914) 995-4006; ChristinaG@westchesterlegislators.com
The county’s Public Safety Communications Center (Center) in Hawthorne will get a complete technological makeover, the first such upgrade in about 20 years.
“Given the pace at which technology changes today, the Communications Center’s infrastructure must be modernized," said County Legislator Bill Burton (D, Ossining), chair of the Board’s Committee on Public Safety & Security (PSS). ”Retrofitting the Center’s technology is overdue."
County Legislator Mike Kaplowitz (D-I-WF, Somers), chair of the Board's Budget & Appropriations Committee and a PSS committee member, explained, “Public Safety is the primary responsibility of any elected official in representative government. Protecting the public, as well as our first responders, is a responsible investment of taxpayer dollars."
The County Board approved the $3.7 million needed to fund the refurbishment.
The Communications Center functions as a hub between the county's Public Safety Department's personnel and other offices involved in law enforcement matters, including the Department of Probation, the Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force, the District Attorney’s Investigative Office and the Department of Social Services. It also is an integral part of the countywide law enforcement hotline system that connects all 43 police agencies into one communications link.
“This Communications Center is critical to coordinating the lines of communication and keeping them open for those charged with maintaining public safety in this county," remarked County Board Chair, Bill Ryan (D-I-WF, White Plains). "Providing for general maintenance, repairs, and of course, innovation is imperative to meet the ever-increasing post 9/11 demands being placed on public safety departments everywhere."
Among its other operations, the Communications Center is the only 24-hour Indian Point siren system warning station. It also dispatches the NYS Transportation Department's HELP trucks to Westchester’s parkways. Through the Center, the Public Safety Department monitors and transmits information from the federal Department of Homeland Security "alert" computer system. According to Department statistics, last year the Center processed roughly 4,500 E-911 emergency calls and responded to over 80,000 events.
Text: 
Print:
