The Lyons Township Area Communication Center, a consolidated dispatch center serving La Grange, La Grange Park and Western Springs, has opened.
The center is housed inside the La Grange Police Department at 304 W. Burlington Ave.
All 911 emergency calls from any of the participating villages are now being routed directly to center and the person taking the call dispatches the appropriate emergency services.
Kim Knutsen, director of the center, said residents should not notice any difference in how their calls are answered.
“It’s seamless to the residents,” she said. “You’ll still have the resources you’re used to responding to your emergencies and non-emergencies. Our goal was to make it seamless.”
The center employs 14 dispatchers who were formerly employed with the individual police departments. Knutsen said they retained all full-time staff members.
Cooperation among the villages has allowed for a smooth opening of the center, she said.
“They were already sharing some resources,” she said. “They had a shared police and fire frequency that was very helpful.”
The villages also each laid a fiber optic network to aid data transmission.
Pat Schramm, director of technology for Western Springs, said previously that phones, alarm systems and camera systems are connected via the fiber optic cable. In case of a disaster striking at a school, for example, police dispatchers would be able to access the school cameras to see what’s going on inside a building, he said.
The new center also includes cameras that monitor such areas as each of the police departments’ lobbies and booking areas. It also has upgraded computer-aided dispatch software.
Knutsen said the new equipment that will work with other new technologies as they become available, such as being able to transmit text messages, photos or video to the center.
“We upgraded a lot of the technology to be compatible with future technology,” Knutsen said.
La Grange Park police chief Ed Rompa said the new center is working well.
“The enhancements are fantastic,” he said.
Transitioning dispatchers from each of the towns to the new center was a good thing to do, he said.
“They’re familiar with all three villages,” he said.
In case of an emergency that would affect its ability to operate, the center’s back up is the West Suburban Consolidated Dispatch Center. The Lyons center plays the same role for the west suburban center.
Residents in each of the town still call 911 for emergency services and may still call their police or fire departments’ non-emergency lines for general police and fire questions.
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