Schenectady City Councilman Vince Riggi said several people complained to him about the police dispatch facility, which opened in Rotterdam in May 2014.
Among them was Barbara McBride, executive director of Summit Towers, who said by the time she got a call back from a county police dispatcher in August, she already had broken up a fight inside an apartment. The federally subsidized high-rise on Albany Street houses needy residents and people with addictions.
"What gets me is that hearing how unhappy I was — as the supervisor of this building — that no supervisor (from dispatch center) felt they needed to call me back," McBride said.
She also said the 911 call rang several times before a dispatcher in Albany County answered.
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Falvo acknowledged a few cases in which dispatchers hung up on city police officers after heated discussions and said the police department and the dispatch center are coping with staffing shortages.
Falvo said some Schenectady police command staff visited the call center and there are plans to have some dispatchers ride along with patrol officers to familiarize themselves with the streets and possible situations they may encounter.
"Staffing is an issue on both sides, and both us and the UCC are doing the best we can with what we have," he said. Some of the Schenectady-based dispatchers who moved to the regional dispatch center recently retired and the facility is hiring, he said.
Gardner said the county has allocated money to hire another dispatcher for the day shift.
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retired - dispatchers PLURAL
to be hired - dispatcher - SINGULAR
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
pretty soon it will be some digital map in India where they answer the 911 calls....much like a surgeon will give a 2nd opinion by looking at CT scans and xrays on line.....
the biggest commodity on earth is humans, run 'em like cattle and you got yourself a good business
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS