WCPD Communications To Handle Tuckahoe PD Calls Overnight

[x635 4,066]

According to sources, WCPD Communications will be handling 911 and non emergency calls, and dispatching, for Tuckahoe PD starting in December

This will be for the midnight shift, and the desk officer will be reassigned to the street. A emergency callbox will be at the public entrance to the police station. Bronxville PD will handle any overnight arrests/prisoners.

This will allow for consistent staffing on the overnight shift.

This may sound like a smart "cost savings" measure, but I always wondered....if Eastchester has one FD and one VAC, then why three PD's? Couldn't they all benefit by consolidating with one another?

[27east 19]

Surprised its not Eastchester PD handling the overnight guests

[wcr20 17]

Seth, my friend, that right there is the multi-million dollar question in Westchester Co.

One could just as easily ask (and no one jump down my throat here, please), Why does Harrison have/need 1 PD, 1 EMS, and 3 FD? You gotta figure that there could be cost savings there too. Or Town of Greenbugh, too?

[americanpolice 24]

Surprised its not Eastchester PD handling the overnight guests

im surprised bronxville, which has no jurisdiction, would handle this. my guess and i could be totally off here is the fear of the town taking over if any power was yielded to them.

[61MACKBR1 222]

"Can everyone say "Consolidation of Police, Fire, and EMS" eventually becoming a reality in Westchester County? I suspect that this is just the beginning (dollars saved vs. Jurisdictional Egos and Politics)

[wcr20 17]

Well I'm not sure that this really counts as consolidation, but it's an interesting step.

On a similar note, what percentage or how many FDs are with 60 for dispatch?

[v85 212]

I don't know how I feel about taking officers off the desk.

I have heard of cases where women in domestic violence situations have ran/driven to the police station with their attacker chasing them only to find a locked door and callbox. In that case, a callbox is no where near as good as a live officer

[SteveOFD 176]

Well I'm not sure that this really counts as consolidation, but it's an interesting step.

On a similar note, what percentage or how many FDs are with 60 for dispatch?

According to the WCDES Annual Report 2012 http://emergencyservices.westchestergov.com/images/stories/pdfs/admn/AnnualReport2012.pdf 48 of 58 FD's and 25 of 45 EMS agencies use 60 Control as their primary dispatch.

[Bottom of Da Hill 76]

westchester 2000? report.

[velcroMedic1987 330]

im surprised bronxville, which has no jurisdiction, would handle this. my guess and i could be totally off here is the fear of the town taking over if any power was yielded to them.

Bronxville doesn't need "jurisdiction" to house a prisoner for Tuckahoe. They could take them to Yonkers or New Rochelle if they wanted to. No big deal there.

[velcroMedic1987 330]

I don't know how I feel about taking officers off the desk.

I have heard of cases where women in domestic violence situations have ran/driven to the police station with their attacker chasing them only to find a locked door and callbox. In that case, a callbox is no where near as good as a live officer

I've never heard of that in my 30 years in emergency services. I have heard of cops being assaulted or killed responding to domestics without adequate back-up. Most of the time the desk officer just calls an officer in off the road for a walk-in complaint anyway.

Officers on the desk never started CPR, caught a bad-guy, or did anything other than answering the phone.

If Westchester created a state of the art 911 center for police, fire and EMS, and everyone used it you could probably put 20-30 more cops a shift on the road. There are some really antiquated or archaic procedures out there.

The State Police closed the barracks in Somers and Cortlandt when they opened the TMC didn't they? There are call boxes there. Anyone know if that created any issues?

[RTMM53 3]

This is just the start of it all. If all goes well with dispatching Tuckahoe PD other small towns and villages may

look to this option also.

There are also rumors that the county pd is absorbing the mt kisco pd sometime soon.

On a dispatcher's side of this minimum manpower should be increased at the wcpd due to already increased work loads.

You have to consider officer safety as well as even using two channels for radio traffic if this occurs

[x635 4,066]

If Westchester created a state of the art 911 center for police, fire and EMS, and everyone used it you could probably put 20-30 more cops a shift on the road. There are some really antiquated or archaic procedures out there.

And more firefighters, too.

[Billy 68]

Wonder what car ID's they'll use on dispatch? Tuckahoe car numbers or will the County assign different unit designators?

[demps121 39]

very interesting discussion. I am not really in favor of this. I think the small communities are going to lose some of what made them great (the small town services). just thinking, why don't we close every store in every town and just open a
Walmart supercenter? Is this how we want our communities to function. Remember the beat cop? he knew all the local kids and there parents. Why does CT not have county govt? Who is correct?

When a resident with some clout calls up at 1 am does not get a local officer then we will see what happens. I just think some of these small villages and towns residents want local cops to handle everything. This is not an issue about efficiency this is just a dollar issue as of now, it is to save 200K that's it.

[ems-buff 81]

I bet with in 5-10years with the exception of the major cities. We will see a system like Nassau county with PD

[mreis95 77]

very interesting discussion. I am not really in favor of this. I think the small communities are going to lose some of what made them great (the small town services). just thinking, why don't we close every store in every town and just open a

Walmart supercenter? Is this how we want our communities to function. Remember the beat cop? he knew all the local kids and there parents. Why does CT not have county govt? Who is correct?

When a resident with some clout calls up at 1 am does not get a local officer then we will see what happens. I just think some of these small villages and towns residents want local cops to handle everything. This is not an issue about efficiency this is just a dollar issue as of now, it is to save 200K that's it.

According to the article though it says they will only be dispatched by WCPD, It says nothing about the County PD sending their cars. It's just WCPD dispatching Tuckahoe cars, the town saves their local officers and the "beat cop".

[demps121 39]

Mreis95,

you are correct however people on other boards as well as journal news comments on the article are talking about consolidation of the PD's in Westchester as well as Westchester 2000. Additionally the reason WCPD is dispatching is because Tuckahoe eliminated a few officer jobs.

[velcroMedic1987 330]

Mreis95,

you are correct however people on other boards as well as journal news comments on the article are talking about consolidation of the PD's in Westchester as well as Westchester 2000. Additionally the reason WCPD is dispatching is because Tuckahoe eliminated a few officer jobs.

very interesting discussion. I am not really in favor of this. I think the small communities are going to lose some of what made them great (the small town services). just thinking, why don't we close every store in every town and just open a

Walmart supercenter? Is this how we want our communities to function. Remember the beat cop? he knew all the local kids and there parents. Why does CT not have county govt? Who is correct?

When a resident with some clout calls up at 1 am does not get a local officer then we will see what happens. I just think some of these small villages and towns residents want local cops to handle everything. This is not an issue about efficiency this is just a dollar issue as of now, it is to save 200K that's it.

This is an interesting discussion. It's interesting to see how many fans of PD consolidation there are here but everytime the subject of FD consolidation comes up it's a horrible idea. Hmmmm...

Stores are private enterprises and have no comparison in this discussion. We don't pay for stores unless we choose to shop there. We do pay for every government service. That the Village of Tuckahoe chose to put its midnight desk cop on the road and have the County PD dispatch them only relates to dispatching. Your points about beat cops and CT is moot since this plan will put another Tuckahoe cop on the street.

The resident "with clout" will still get a local cop and if it saves 200K a year, that may be substantial in a village the size of Tuckahoe.

[AFS1970 504]

Bronxville doesn't need "jurisdiction" to house a prisoner for Tuckahoe. They could take them to Yonkers or New Rochelle if they wanted to. No big deal there.

I am surprised they were willing to take on the liability of someone else's prisoners.

...Officers on the desk never started CPR, caught a bad-guy, or did anything other than answering the phone...

We had a Desk Sergeant suffer a fatal heart attack and the officers working with him in the jail did do CPR. No question manpwer needs to increase on the road, but this is more robbing Peter to pay Paul than anything else.

There are also rumors that the county pd is absorbing the mt kisco pd sometime soon.

I had also heard this about Pound Ridge PD.

Why does CT not have county govt? Who is correct?

This is not an issue about efficiency this is just a dollar issue as of now, it is to save 200K that's it.

There are some in our state government that want to go back to county government, although they have much prettier sounding names for it. THis is mostly because they figure they can add an additional level of taxes on us.

Decisions like this are rarely about efficiency. THey are usually about saving money and more often than not only concerned with the short term and not the long term.

I bet with in 5-10years with the exception of the major cities. We will see a system like Nassau county with PD

Even the Ambulances? lol.

[Remember585 815]

The real crime in Westchester is the piss-poor 911 system, with it's DOZENS of PSAPs with people handling those 911 calls with seriously different levels of training to do so. I do not believe that having the "locals" answer 911 calls has much advantage, since they routinely get calls from a caller not in their jurisdiction, then turf the call to another PD/FD or even 60 Control, simply because they have no idea who the call really should be routed to.

Consolidating cops... sensitive subject. If we do, there really is advantages, and there will be some disadvantages. I can name no less than one dozen police departments in Westchester that do not need to exist, and could easily become part of a county or regional system. They either offer little in the way of special services, have antiquated supervisory staff or - here is something often overlooked - lack the support of their municipality to provide better services. If you took these smaller or under-funded/under-supported departments and put them under a larger umbrella, they could become something much better. It isn't usually the fault of the rank and file officers, it's their (mis)management from their own brass and the municipality they work for.

Same applies to fire departments, for that matter.

[Bnechis 3,961]

Same applies to fire departments, for that matter.

How dare you speak the truth!!!!

To bad departments (both PD & FD) will fight harder to prevent change than they fight to ensure they are providing the service that the community has been lead to believe that they get.

[Chkpoint 131]

Why eastchester, tuckahoe and bronxville don't consolidate to one PD is a solid question. You have just one FD so why not pd.

[spaulding 0]

Bronxville would never go with that idea... too much money there

[velcroMedic1987 330]

Bronxville would never go with that idea... too much money there

Said by the guy from Bedford. How many FD's in Bedford and only one PD?