Council Approves Contract Outsourcing Police Dispatch, Lays Off Six

The Pacifica City Council voted Monday night to move its police dispatch services to the South San Francisco Police Department.

The shift, part of the council’s in the fiscal year 2011-12 budget, will result in six dispatchers losing their jobs and less availability of police services to Pacifica residents. 

Captain Dave Bertini said at Monday night’s council meeting, where council approved the move four to zero with Councilwoman Sue Digre excused, that although he believes the SSF Police Department can handle the task, there would be several changes to how Pacificans will interact with their police force, and none positive.

Any time someone in Pacifica calls 911 or another 7-digit emergency number, for instance, they’ll be connected to a dispatcher in SSF. This means residents will talk to someone who doesn’t possess cursory knowledge of Pacifica’s neighborhoods or landmarks, at least not at first. 

“I think for the first six months to a year there will be issues with dispatchers not being familiar with geographical places,” he said. “Computers at the dispatch center need an actual, physical address for us to even get a call into the system, so you can’t just say the big tree near Highway 1, you’ll need an actual physical address.”

Additionally, with new dispatchers will come new professional relationships within the police force, said Cpt. Bertini. Officers will need to learn how to work with those who send them to incidents all over again.

“That adjustment is disappointing to me,” he said. “Our dispatchers and officers work so closely together. They know by the tone of voice of an officer whether to send that person cover, et cetera. We’re going to lose that ability to read each other.”

Another problem: Pacifica Police officers will not have the ability to simply walk into a dispatch office to speak with staff, unless they drive up to SSF. They’ll almost exclusively make contact via phone while they’re on duty. If dispatchers are busy, officers may have a hard time getting a hold of them, Cpt. Bertini said. Pacifica Police may even need to share a radio channel with other agencies, including the SSF force, at certain times during the morning, he said. 

The same goes for residents as the call load at the SSF dispatch office increase, he said. 

This, siad Cpt. Bertini, is the most likely way police response time might become longer once the shift is made, if response time changes at all. 

Perhaps premier among the coming changes for Pacifica residents, however, is that the police station will no longer be open 24 hours a day, which will have ramifications both in terms of safety and the availability of administrative services.

If someone needs a vehicle release, for instance, after their car has been towed or impounded, they’ll need to come by the station during the new reduced business hours—8:30a.m. to 5p.m. weekdays besides Wednesday and between 8:30a.m. and 7:30p.m. on Wednesday—or head up to the SSF Police station.

Also, people sometimes come to the station late at night to seek refuge from dangerous situations, Cpt. Bertini said. That won’t be possible when the service shift happens.

Once SSF is handling dispatch, anyone coming to the Pacifica station after business hours will be faced with a telephone interface system that will connect them to dispatchers over the hill.

"It’s a shame to not see it open 24 hours a day,” said Councilman Jim Vreeland. “It’s a testament to what every California city is going through right now. We’re losing a resource, a tremendous resource for the city. It’s disappointing that we’ve gotten to this point in government in California. And this is the beginning as we go through the next several years of budget negotiations.” 

Councilwoman and Mayor Mary Ann Nihart said the vote to approve the contract with South San Francisco is especially disappointing because of a failure of another option Pacifica, along with other neighboring cities, were trying to make real not long ago. 

That was the creation of a semi-regional communications center in Daly City for the police departments of several cities, including Pacifica, Daly City and South San Francisco. The center would have cut costs for participating municipalities and minimized layoffs.

Because of differences in pay among dispatchers at different cities, however, talks broke down without an agreement.

“It really troubles me,” Nihart said.

The contract will last for three years. Pacifica will pay South San Francisco $600,000 for dispatch services in FY 2011-12, $612,000 in FY 2012-13 and $624,240 in FY 2013-14.

The cost for the first year will be prorated based on when SSF will actually take over the services, Cpt. Bertini said. Lots of details need to be ironed out still, including merging the two departments’ communication technologies. An actual date has not been set for SSF to take over.

The agreement will save Pacifica between $280,000 and $300,000 annually according to the today’s budget, Cpt. Bertini said.

The SSF Police Department has six openings in its dispatch center, and Pacifica’s dispatchers are welcome to apply for the positions but there is no guarantee that they will get the jobs, he said.