Palmer dispatch loses AST backup

Replacement found until permanent unit

is installed

By JOEL DAVIDSON-Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA -- The Alaska State Troopers' dispatch center on Fort Richardson shut down yesterday when the troopers began sharing dispatch services with the Wasilla Police Department.

The arrangement saves money and streamlines operations for the troopers, but it also left Palmer dispatch without a long-term backup.

According to the Mat-Su Borough's director of public safety, Dennis Brodigan, the Palmer dispatch center, which is in charge of dispatching emergency personnel for the entire Mat-Su Borough, will compensate for this loss by using the Cottonwood Public Safety Facility on Seward Meridian Parkway as a temporary backup if an emergency situation occurs in Palmer, similar to what happened in March 2003 during a violent windstorm.

During that windstorm, Palmer's dispatch received backup from the Alaska State Troopers when both main power failure and generator failure caused Palmer's dispatch to go down for roughly an hour.

For the foreseeable future, Brodigan said Palmer's dispatch will remain the primary safety answering point for the Mat-Su Borough, just as it has been since the mid-1970s.

The long-term 911 backup plan is to install equipment in the Palmer dispatch center that can connect with Wasilla's dispatch through a T-1 cable, thereby allowing information regarding 911 calls to be transferred back and forth between the two dispatch offices with a simple push of a button.

According to Brodigan, if anything were to happen, the Wasilla dispatch could take over control of dispatching for however long it was needed until Palmer was back on line. The plan is to have this system up and running by the first quarter of 2005, according to Brodigan.