By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
LAMBERTVILLE — Lambertville had more calls for emergency services last year — almost 5,000 — than it has residents, and most go off without a hitch.
Imagine, though, if some of them didn’t. A misunderstood address in a call to firefighters or for a heart attack victim could mean a tragic delay.
It’s happened.
”Years ago, we got a call for a road given as Solebury Township,” said county Technical Supervisor Harry Heller.
The call came for emergency responders when he was the chief of the Lambertville-New Hope Ambulance and Rescue Squad, and nobody knew where the road was.
”We looked at maps, we asked the county, we were unsure,” Mr. Heller said. “We went back and forth.”
Finally, contact was reestablished with the woman who had placed the initial call. She was in Salsbury Township.
Hunterdon County’s new computer-aided dispatch system will be able to avoid this kind of trouble if someone calls from a landline. The system will draw responders a map “right to your door,” Mr. Heller said.
The service will go live Wednesday, June 1.
Such an enhancement can be useful when mutual aid is given to neighboring towns with unfamiliar streets.
The system also will be able to provide sensitive information to police via computers in their patrol cars rather than just blurting it out on a scanner for anyone to hear. However, the system will not replace scanners, Mr. Heller said.
”If you wanted more confidentiality, it’s available,” he said.
The Windows-based system, updating the dispatch service with more current technology than had been in use before now, has cost the county $92,000. Grant money was not used for the purchase.
”We wish we had, but no such luck,” said Mr. Heller, who also is the coordinator of the West Amwell Office of Emergency Management.
”The Hunterdon County Communications System serves as a centralized communications center,” Public Safety Director George F. Wagner said in a statement released by the county. “We are striving to reduce duplicated services and wasted efforts while, at the same time, increasing efficiencies linking county residents with our public safety agencies.”
Last year, Hunterdon County’s dispatch fielded 211,000 phone calls, according to Mr. Heller. Almost 19,000 of the calls were asking for rescue squads and EMS services. About 5,700 were fire dispatches.
Last year, Lambertville had 4,888 dispatch calls. West Amwell had 3,624. Stockton had 250.
In the surrounding area, Delaware Township had 2,773 calls. East Amwell had 1,540.
The busiest municipality in the county in terms of dispatch calls is Raritan Township with 17,774 in 2010, Mr. Heller said.
The communications system handles emergency calls for 14 municipal police departments, 28 fire departments, 18 first aid and rescue squads and four mobile intensive care units. Other agencies dispatched are the prosecutor’s office, Sheriff’s Department, corrections, medical examiner, Health Department, Emergency Management, Hazardous Materials Team and the Roads and Parks and Recreation departments.
Three New Jersey State Police stations in the county handle municipalities that do not have local police departments, such as Stockton.
”Our team is looking forward to launching this new improved tool for the residents of this county and for our public safety community and first responders,” Mr. Wagner said.

