Police emergency calls will no longer go directly to Troop B

NORTH CANAAN — Within a few weeks, emergency police calls in the Troop B area will be rerouted to the Troop L State Police barracks in Litchfield. It is a move said to be more efficient, both technologically and fiscally.

State Police Spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said there will be essentially no difference noticeable to the public. Troop B will retain all other services, including keeping a desk manned by a trooper to handle non-emergency calls and civilians coming into the barracks for various reasons.

Troop L, the only other barracks in Litchfield County, was chosen because it has a larger dispatch room to accommodate a somewhat larger and more involved setup of people and equipment.

No jobs will be lost. Vance said there are two openings already available.

“It will be exactly the same service and response,� Vance said, “The phones will just ring in another location.�

But at Troop B, one trooper described the change as controversial, offering no details. A civilian dispatcher said she would not travel the extra distance to keep her job. The Troop B commander did not return a call requesting more information before press time.

A state law that was passed during the last legislative session required towns with populations under 40,000 to join in regionalized dispatch. It was vetoed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who said it lacks a plan for implementation. The bill is expected to be revisited.

This area already uses that approach for fire and ambulance calls, which are handled through Litchfield County Dispatch (LCD). LCD is the region’s 911 service and it is based at Troop L.

The bigger picture is one that is playing out across the country. With the main goal the shortest possible response times, police departments seek to take advantage of the latest technology. But going it alone, using taxpayer dollars, can be a challenge.

The trade-off, as some see it, is less familiarity with towns. There are plenty of stories of delayed emergency response such as police being sent to the right street in the wrong town.

But locating emergencies has always been an issue. Travelers, those injured in an accident and people simply flustered during a crisis cannot always say where they are. Overcoming those issues is an ongoing goal of technology. In the Northwest Corner, when a 911 call is placed from a landline, location information pops up on a dispatcher’s computer screen. Cell phones are an issue, but GPS tracking can be used.

Some wonder what will happen if a system covering a wide region fails and there is nowhere else for 911 calls to go, but Vance said fail-safe measures will be in place.