County takes over dispatch service

The dispatchers who answer 911 emergency calls from township residents now work for the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office rather than the West Milford Police Department.

The change began Tuesday, March 11.

During the Township Council meeting Wednesday, March 5, Mayor Michele Dale explained that the change was made “to streamline emergency response, improve efficiency and save taxpayer dollars while ensuring our local police remain fully responsive to all emergencies.”

When a resident calls 911, Passaic County dispatchers will collect the information, then notify West Milford’s dispatcher, who will deploy local officers as needed.

All county dispatchers are Emergency Medical Dispatch-certified so they can provide directions for doing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and other emergency measures, Police Chief Shannon Sommerville said.

They also can push a button to connect the West Milford dispatcher, turning it into a three-way phone call “so we’re getting the feedback from that person also,“ he said.

He pointed out that Ringwood has used Passaic County dispatchers for more than 10 years. “They’ve had no issues with it.”

Ringwood Police Chief Peter McGinty confirmed that there was never a problem with this system, Sommerville said.

Bergen County also has a big regional dispatch center, he noted.

Duplicate calls

”By reducing duplicate calls at our local dispatch center, the dispatch team can focus on coordinating faster response times and assisting residents with other urgent matters,” Dale said.

When there was an accident on Route 23, West Milford’s one dispatcher was answering 20 calls reporting it, Sommerville said. “That ties up our phone lines. It ties up our dispatcher from dispatching officers to the scene and also ... answering other calls of service within our township.

“I believe this is a more efficient and effective way of managing my police department and my dispatch center.”

Dale said West Milford’s dispatchers answered 7,014 emergency calls in 2024 but only 3,791 required a new incident response. The other calls were about incidents already reported.

By using county dispatchers, West Milford also will eliminate the need to upgrade its 911 system, which costs $200,000 to $250,000 every five years as well as a $6,000 annual maintenance fee.

Sommerville said no one lost their job because of the switch.

He and Dale said they would monitor the new dispatch system to make sure it is working well.

Councilwoman Ada Erik said, “It should have happened a long, long time ago.”