MANVILLE: County-run dispatching now in effect for police

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
   Manville police made the final switch to the county dispatching system this past weekend, and everything is running as planned, said Mayor Angelo Corradino.
   There is no change in the hours of operation of the station, he said. The doors at the headquarters on North Main Street are locked at the same time, about 5:30 p.m., but instead of buzzing to be allowed in, a visitor will have to pick up a phone and a police officer will respond from the road, he said.
   The switch from a borough-run dispatching system for police calls has been a hotly debated partisan issue. Foes of the switch said the cost of borough-employed dispatchers wasn’t that much, and the costs of equipment to switch over will offset the savings, opponents said. Walk-ins will have to wait for an officer to clear calls and respond to the station, taking the person off patrol, they said.
      Mayor Corradino has said the change will allow the borough to afford to add more patrol officers.
   ”By January we will have an additional three officers on the road,” he said. “We will be adding one more in June to bring the department total to 24 officers, up from 20 now.”
   All calls for 9-1-1 emergencies were previously routed through the county dispatch and then forwarded to the borough police headquarters, if necessary.
   Dispatchers also did other tasks, besides greeting walk-ins. They entered data into the computer-aided dispatch system, monitored surrounding agencies radio communications, stayed in touch with borough public works and animal control and provided some level of security at the station, advocates of the borough-run system have said.