Technology, other upgrades among improvements at Palmer Dispatch

PALMER — Public safety communications have taken a quantum leap forward in Palmer, into the 21st century.

Jon Owen, the city’s public safety director, has been thrilled with Palmer Dispatch’s new setup.

Not only does it mean the city is finally on par with national standards for dispatch, it also means he and Palmer Police Department Lt. Tom Remaley can finally put away their Leathermans. The old radios and communication equipment were 14 years old, Owen said.

“In communication equipment years, it was Stone Age,” he said.

It was so old, he said, the department couldn’t get replacement parts. When the city of Cordova upgraded its center, officials sent a box of parts taken from its old system to Palmer, Owen said. When a button would break, it was up to Remaley and Owen to replace it, taking out screws and putting in a used replacement they hoped would work.

“Put the two screws in and cross your fingers,” Owen said about the process of keeping the Palmer’s old dispatch system working. It was a source of concern because every 911 call for the Mat-Su Borough comes in through that dispatch system.

The new system went live Dec. 22, Owen said.

Karen Ripley, the city’s dispatch supervisor, said the difference between the two systems is incredible. Before, dispatchers had to physically push buttons on a bank of electronics to broadcast tones and activate emergency responders’ pagers; now, they just point and click.

Not only that, but the upgrade moved out bulky equipment and moved in a quartet of fancy, ergonomically designed desks. The desks are motorized and can raise and lower to suit dispatchers’ preferences and ease repetitive stress injuries, Owen said.

Dennis Brodigan, director of Emergency Services for the Borough, whose ambulances and fire trucks are dispatched through Palmer, said that on his end the transition was seamless, which is how he wanted it.

“Most responders didn’t even realize when the switch was flipped from one system to another,” Brodigan said. The new radios seem to broadcast a clearer signal, though that may just be his perception.

While all of this might seem extravagant, Owen said the upgrade puts the department on the level of most every other dispatch center in the nation.

“We’re not the last center on the planet to get this stuff, but we we’re pretty close,” Ripley said.

A $1.13 million project like this doesn’t come through without its share of legwork and headaches. First on the list was cobbling together funding. The federal Department of Homeland Security kicked in a $408,000 grant. The city pitched in an additional $50,000. The rest came from money the U.S. Department of Justice granted to the Kenai Peninsula and Mat-Su boroughs and the Municipality of Anchorage. Palmer and the Mat-Su Borough kicked in their allotments.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiers-man.com or 352-2270.