They’ve been doing it for nearly 12 years, and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department said it should be allowed to continue responding to Orion Township’s cellular 911 calls.
Land line 911 calls are currently handled by the Village of Lake Orion Police Department’s dispatch center. Calls made from cell phones are sent to OCSD dispatch.
Oakland County is asking each PSAP (public safety answering point) to reconsider the routing of its wireless calls. OCSD Lt. Bruce Naile, commander of the Orion Substation, said the village has requested to take over cellular calls for the township.
‘We don’t think that’s a good idea,? he said.
Orion Township trustees had the issue as an agenda item at their Feb. 2 meeting, but postponed any action until the March 1 meeting. They did allow Christine Russell, the Chief of Communication for the OCSD Dispatch Center, to speak.
‘The Oakland County Sheriff’s Department has been receiving (cellular 911 calls) north of M-59 for the past 11 years,? she said. ‘The state police responds to calls from south of M-59.?
Russell said the department receives (cell phone) tower information from the calls, and a call back number.
‘Our road patrol services the Orion Township area…we’d like to continue receiving the cellular calls,? Russell said, adding that 80 percent of the wireless calls to 911 are related to law enforcement.
Russell said that due to the high number of cellular 911 calls, a dispatch center must be prepared to do extra work.
‘From one accident we can get one…to 10 calls,? she said. ‘This can really busy up a dispatch center if you’re not prepared.?
With land line calls, a dispatch center can get an address automatically, but not so with cellular calls.
‘They take longer to decipher…that keeps the dispatch busy,? said Russell. ‘With out of area calls, you can’t set up borders with towers…you have to program the towers to send calls to particular dispatch centers.?
Russell said that means that with cellular 911 calls, dispatch often has to transfer calls to other departments.
‘One time we had a man call on a cell phone who was having a heart attack, and he was calling from Windsor,? she said. ‘You have to be ready to transfer those calls to another agency.?
Dispatch also has to deal with unintentional wireless 911 calls, and determining if they involve a real emergency.
‘Unfortunately sometimes those buttons are pressed, and they ring directly into the local dispatch agency,? said Russell. ‘We are just concerned this will be quite an impact for other agencies (if OCSD stops taking wireless calls).?
Naile said last year the board voted to use the Village of Lake Orion for their dispatch center.
‘This won’t change land line calls,? he said. ‘We’re bordered on three sides by townships that also contract with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department.?
Clerk Jill Bastian said the township never received a letter about changing its wireless 911 dispatch center to the village.
‘Letters were sent to the PSATs,? said Russell. ‘The county sent a letter out to (the village).?
‘If the village has something they want to discuss, we should see it,? said trustee Michael Gingell. ‘Otherwise, I don’t see why we should change.?
Orion Township Fire Chief Jeff Key said the township should investigate before making a final decision.
‘I think there are a lot of questions before we go one way or another,? he said.