Consolidation of 911 dispatch channel for Mon Valley police departments put on hold
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A consolidation meant to happen today for eleven police departments in the Mon Valley, where they would share one 911 dispatch channel, has been delayed.
Allegheny County leaders tell KDKA they do have plans to move forward with the consolidation but are delaying it for the time being. They said instead of the departments coming to them to share their concerns, they went to the media.
They now plan on holding various meetings with the departments in hopes to solve the many issues.
An email was sent out from Allegheny County Department of Emergency Services Chief, Matt Brown, to the eleven departments yesterday. You can read it in full below.
Chiefs:
Earlier in April, we met about the upcoming East PD channel consolidation and I followed up that meeting with a memo outlining those plans and making myself available to each of you to answer any questions or concerns. While no one contacted me directly, several of you contacted the media with concerns that went unvoiced to ACES. Obviously, there remains a need to have some additional conversations. Based on that, I will be delaying the consolidation for a short period of time to allow us to address concerns.
The channel consolidation will move forward at a future date to be determined, but please note that we may also be forced to consolidate the channels, from time to time, based on staffing. As I'm sure you're all aware, that's a practice that is already in place and happens on occasion. Additionally, many of the departments in the Mon Valley appear to be faced with similar staffing issues as Emergency Services has been notified of a number of shifts in coverage over the past few weeks. As you make consolidations across municipal lines, those are equally impactful to our operations.
I will be in touch soon to schedule meetings for us and the chiefs of the involved East police departments. We'll hold the meetings at our facility in Moon so we may also discuss radio communications and provide some information on our dispatch operations as the media interviews underscored that people are not aware of the process here. No need to respond to this email. I will be in touch with each of you very soon to schedule our first meeting.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Here are the eleven areas that would be impacted by the consolidation:
- McKeesport
- Versailles
- White Oak
- Penn State Greater Allegheny
- Clairton
- Glassport
- Port View
- Liberty
- Elizabeth Borough
- Elizabeth Township
- Lincoln
When announced, this move angered many of the police departments involved. They feel if this consolidation were to happen it would become a safety issue not just for their officers but the community too.