The East Hampton Town Police Department says it is ready to take on dispatch responsibilities starting in January when it assumes responsibilities from East Hampton Village and becomes the primary Public Safety Answering Point, or P.S.A.P., in the town.
At Tuesday’s East Hampton Town Board work session, Greg Martin, a captain in the Police Department, gave the board a rather matter-of-fact update with a steady refrain of confidence.
“For someone who calls 911, just a regular citizen who calls 911, they’re not going to notice any difference to what happens right now?” asked Councilwoman Cate Rogers.
“Correct,” Captain Martin said.
Since September, the town police headquarters in Wainscott have been undergoing renovations to prepare for the shift, with the dispatch room being newly outfitted.
“We are looking at a completed renovation date of around the end of January,” said Captain Martin. “The transition is a non-issue. We have two seats that have been added due to this added responsibility with the P.S.A.P. designation.”
Even if the construction were somehow delayed, the captain, like Chief Michael Sarlo in the past, said the separate room dispatchers are operating from as construction is completed is fully functional. “It’s actually working efficiently and rather well,” he told the board.
He said the department has plenty of staff to work the transition as well. There are five squads of three dispatchers, and there will be two supervisors overseeing them on rotating shifts. Stephen Blanchard is the chief dispatcher who will oversee the entire program.
Councilman Tom Flight asked about the summer population surge and how the Police Department is planning for that.
“We are anticipating additional hires that are budgeted for next year,” said Captain Martin. “In addition, as we have in years past and fully anticipate doing the same, adding supplemental dispatchers just to lessen the burden of the call volume during those expected seasonal time frames.”
All of the town’s dispatchers have received the “emergency medical dispatch” or E.M.D. training, he said.
“What that means is when we get an incoming 911 call, where there’s some form of medical emergency, there’s a step-by-step guide that needs to be relayed to these people on how to provide aid to themselves, or others, depending upon what the situation is. E.M.D. is a certification that all dispatchers receive and all of ours have that and have had it forever. We just were never tasked with this responsibility,” he said.
In addition to being trained on the E.M.D. software, called ProQA, Captain Martin said the town has been sending its dispatchers to the Suffolk County Dispatch Service in Yaphank to sit in with those dispatchers.
Finally, the supervising dispatchers are receiving quality assurance trainings. They’ll listen to random calls throughout the year to make sure all dispatchers are complying with their duties.
The transition to the town dispatchers taking over all 911 calls will be on Jan. 5 because that’s the date “requested by the county,” said Captain Martin. Starting Feb. 1, they’ll also take on the fire and ambulance calls for the Springs and Sag Harbor Fire Departments.
“We have received all of their protocols and their preferred responses,” he said. “We have implemented all of them.”
“Anything outside those hamlets — Montauk, Amagansett, and East Hampton Village — we will transfer. In essence, what’s done now but backwards, to the village because of contractual obligations for those districts to the village,” he said.
“That includes mutual aid responses?” Councilman Flight asked.
“Yes,” Captain Martin said, before repeating, “From the user end, there should be zero change noticed.”