On Monday, the Town of East Hampton formally completed the transition of primary 911 call answering from East Hampton Village to its Police Department Dispatch Center. All 911 calls from landlines within the town (outside East Hampton Village or Sag Harbor) will now be taken from the town police headquarters in Wainscott.
Landline calls originating from the villages will continue to be handled by East Hampton Village dispatchers at 1 Cedar Street. Any 911 calls from cellphones will be answered by the town dispatchers.
While this represents a big change within the respective police departments — village dispatchers have been the primary answering point since the inception of the 911 service decades ago — callers shouldn’t notice a difference.
“We are extremely proud of the work done by our senior dispatch supervisors, Chief Dispatcher Steve Blanchard and Deputy Chiefs Ruth Dodge and Harold Steve Graham, as well as our network communications specialist, Eddie Schnell, throughout this process,” said Michael Sarlo, the town’s police chief, in a press release. “Along with our senior staff, we remain committed to working directly with our fire and E.M.S. partners, as well as village dispatch supervision, to make sure 911 calls are answered and dispatched efficiently and effectively. All of our public safety dispatchers deserve credit for taking on these new responsibilities and embracing their role.”
The transition has been planned since last spring and was set to take place on Jan. 2. There were minor issues that caused the three-week delay.
“During the transition period, Suffolk County Police Department personnel were notified by Verizon of potential misroutes in the system pertaining to dispatching appropriate personnel to addresses throughout the town and village,” a Suffolk County Police spokesperson said earlier this month about the delay. “The issue appears to have existed for at least a decade and went unaddressed due to dispatchers’ institutional knowledge that allowed for effective redirection of calls as needed.”
Amid the transition, the town dispatch room continues to undergo renovations. They are “expected to be completed in the coming weeks,” according to the press release. However, Chief Sarlo has said the transition could comfortably occur before the renovations are complete.
“I could not be prouder of the town team that made this happen,” Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said in the release. “When someone calls 911, they are counting on us in a moment that feels overwhelming. Residents will notice no difference when they call 911. A trained dispatcher will answer, and help will be sent right away.”
Starting Feb. 1, the town will also begin dispatching fire and emergency medical service calls for the Sag Harbor and Springs Fire Departments.
The town ultimately agreed to take on dispatching responsibilities last spring when contract negotiations for the service with the village broke down.
East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen, who is now running a primary campaign against Supervisor Burke-Gonzalez, has long doubted the town’s strategy of taking on the added responsibly of all 911 calls, followed shortly after by the fire and E.M.S. calls for the two fire departments. (The village will continue to dispatch for the Amagansett and Montauk Fire Departments.)
“As I said all along, I think they could have rolled this out in a better way. I think it would have been smarter for them to take the fire and E.M.S. two years down the line,” he said this week.
