DEC's response to dispatching questions today

Today, I asked DEC for more answers regarding the DEC's proposal to close its Ray Brook dispatching offices and rely on a central dispatch system in Albany. Here are their answers provided by DEC spokeswoman Lori Severino:

1. Was the dispatching system tested before the DEC notified its employees that the Ray Brook office would be shut down?

Severino: As we have said many times, the system is still being built out and tested now.  It is not completed as of yet, and has never been represented to be fully functional at this point.  That is why Ray Brook has not been shut down, and will not be until the new system is completed and fully tested.  And only then, if the new system provides at least the same coverage as Ray Brook provides now.  

2. Were tests were done to ensure that the system was working properly before fulling committing to it in Regions 5 and 6? 

Severino: The system was built out and tested in other Regions of the state first where there were less complications with topography and site accessibility.  The new system has proven to have greatly increased our capabilities to contact our field officers in all 8 other Regions.   

3. How much did it cost to implement the central dispatch system?

Severino: The entire system was paid for by the NYS Office for Technology from the Statewide Wireless Funding.  It did not cost DEC anything. The cost to fully implement the Statewide Wireless Interoperability plan was estimated at over 10 million dollars.  This RoIP system which was reviewed and approved by the NYS Office for Technology, and is providing DEC with many of the same capabilities, was purchased for less than 10% of that cost (approximately $750,000).   

4. How much money is being saved by closing the Ray Brook dispatching office? 

Severino: Those figures are not available as of yet.  The closing of Ray Brook is only a small part of the benefits to be realized by the Department statewide.  Until the system is up and fully functional it's unclear how many staff may be able to be replaced with this system statewide.  The real benefits of the new system are in providing our Regional Commanders with the ability to put field officers who currently sit at a radio desk in every region of the state (other than Ray Brook) during regular business hours back in the field.  As well as the huge increase in officer safety we have realized by creating the ability of our 24/7 dispatch operation to now contact field staff by radio in all other areas of the state where it was never possible before.      

5. How many hours were the DEC dispatchers required to work this weekend when the Albany dispatch system failed? Please provide the dispatcher names and work hours. 

Severino: Over the entire weekend, two dispatchers volunteered to work a total of 21 hours of overtime as per our backup protocol to keep the Regional dispatch center in operation until the main system was back on line.   Ray Brook had normally scheduled staffing of assigned dispatchers from 7:00AM - 11:00PM for the holiday weekend.  When the power outage caused some of our radio equipment to be knocked out of service, backup protocols were implemented.  We then ran our backup location (Ray Brook in this case) in full operation until 11:00PM on Monday.  As per the Department's backup plan, some overtime was used to cover the unplanned shifts.   If you want the actual time used it is as follows;  On Saturday night, one dispatcher worked 1 hour of overtime. On Sunday, One Dispatcher worked a double shift, one Dispatcher worked 4 hours of overtime, one Ranger worked 6 hours in Dispatch and one Ranger covered an additional 4 hours in Dispatch. On Monday, One Dispatcher worked a double shift.