It’s been a little over a month since the Butler City Police Department handed over dispatching duties to the county 911 center in an effort to get more officers out patrolling the streets.
Deputy Chief David Adam said the change has gone relatively smoothly.
“Nothing major has happened…a few issues as you would expect,” Adam said Wednesday. “We’re doing the best we can to work out the problems with the people at the 911 center.”
As of Aug. 3, there is no longer a police desk inside the downtown station on West New Castle, meaning residents can’t walk inside and expect to talk to an officer. Adam stressed any person with a police-related issue, even if it’s not an emergency, must now dial 911.
“Residents need to contact 911 for any police-related issue…I can’t stress that enough,” he said.
The movement behind this change is to increase the police presence on city streets.
“Our goal here is to keep more boots on the streets,” Adam said. “We want our guys out, to have them seen by the public. We’re trying to serve the public in a better way without the desk. It’s a trade-off.”
He noted that he knows people are missing the fact that they can’t walk into the station and talk to an officer, but he says in today’s society, he would rather have more of his men on the street instead of less of them.
“But I understand people are missing it,” he said.
There will now be four patrolmen out on an average day. The department is made up of 23 full time officers as well as 2 K-9s.
There is a call box located outside the city station for residents to use to call 911.
In terms of number of calls, Adam said they have almost doubled. But, that is because every single call is counted as one, even if it’s not an emergency.
“The difference is our desk man handled probably 60 percent of our calls over the phone,” he said. “Now all those calls are being counted in the call volume.”
Written By: Kayla Molczan
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