Community Corner

Letter: Mayor, Council Ignored Residents' Interests in Dispatch Decision

With one exception, it seems the council and mayor do not have the residents' best interests in mind. 

You were told by numerous residents, fire personnel, EMT's, and police officers of the various safety issues they had when dealing directly with County Communications. At a recent meeting, there was not one representative from Somerset County Communications there to answer anyone's questions; serious questions that still remain unanswered. 

How then do you come to decision to outsource an important lifesaving tool to a place that has not provided any answers but only unsubstantiated
promises when they and Mr. Norgalis have been studying this outsourcing takeover for over 8 years? 

Bridgewater PD used to be a gem in this county and state. Your actions over the years has dismantled it piece by piece. 

Did you know Bridgewater was one of, if not, the first department in the state to have computers in cars? We used to have a dive team, Haz-Mat team, Emergency Service Unit, Community Policing Officers, a K-9 police dog, motorcycles, boats, wave runners for the protection of the citizens of this community. Bridgewater was the department you wanted to join. Now, they are almost the laughing stock of the county with cars that barely run and police roles that are seriously understaffed.

The supposed $4.5 million dollar savings is only "savings" if it is not used somewhere else in the budget which we all know is what will happen, like perhaps another unnecessary turf field. (Which by the way, needs replacing after 10 years at roughly $1 million each.) 

It's also only a savings if everything goes according to plan the first time. How can one think that will happen when we still don't have the facts, or any answers to very important questions? Was it a promise of a political promotion  and patronage of some sort? Or just pure delusion? Is $20 savings on a $500,000 house is worth someone you love, a friend, a neighbor, a police officer to die over?  By voting yes you said just that. Their blood will be on your hands. And for those houses which aren't valued at $500,000, what are the savings for them? $10? I suppose the $4.5 million savings can go to offset the lawsuits that are bound to come when an ambulance doesn't arrive to the right location, or when a county dispatcher tries to send an officer to an alarm at3am when officers are trying to conduct a tactical breach on a possibly armed suspect. 

All this happened and was told to you and you just ignored it. To save that meager amount to go to the unknown and unproven is mind boggling. Perhaps, with the $20 savings for some on their municipal tax bill they can apply it to the county tax bill that has increased and will only continue to rise as they add more towns and lay off more staff at critical services, such as Richard Hall Mental Health Center.

Several told you that during Sandy the county system was overloaded and all were to stay off the system. Yet Bridgewater emergency services operated at 100% the entire storm with no issues. Outsourcing to county will only overload the system more. But hey, we can save $20 per house let's go for it.

It was brought up that a Somerville woman was assaulted by a male waiting for an officer to arrive to their HQ's because no dispatcher was around. Roughly 67% of all walk-ins in Bridgewater were after hours. By going to county no one will be in the building if something major comes along. By voting yes you are saying "I can live with that." There's no way around it. 

You have also put all the fire departments and rescue squads in financial stress. You were told by them they cannot afford to pay for the second round of radios that will be needed when County jumps to the 700 mHz band. It's quite clear you don't have their best interest in mind and those citizens they serve. It was also said that a police portable radio capable of
transmitting on the county system was broke and is still unable to be repaired because of cost. What happens when 3, 4 or 5 stop working or those in the cars? Are they going to bust out the can and string? Seems like they will have to do just that.

It also seems Bridgewater's CAD system is far superior to that of county's. All alerts given to the dispatcher and officer as the address is put in, is that not a benefit and safety issue? I understand county's does not do that. It also takes five steps to do something that it only takes a Bridgewater dispatcher one step. Where is the common sense on that?!
Mr. Stahl, a former Chief at Warren PD, would not send his dispatch to county. They still haven't gone - and are not going. That should be a sign in itself. Warren Township has said that it values its dispatchers knowledge of the town and it is worth passing up the "minimal" savings of transferring their dispatch. You who voted yes are saying the opposite. 

Regardless of you saying it is not about the abilities or quality of service of the dispatchers, it is. You're saying these dedicated and extremely knowledgeable dispatchers are not worth saving. Their experience, eh screw it county can do it cheaper for less service. 

All fire, EMS, police, and DPW are all able to transmit to each other directly. Going to county that will not happen. As Mr. Moench said and we all agree, this is a decrease in service hands down. There's no longer that
interoperability that Bridgewater's emergency services utilize by going to county. 

Who now will update the police Facebook page? Send out Nixle Emergency alerts to residents that was just brought back because residents complained of a lack of communication from the township after two major hurricanes and winter storms? Not dispatch that currently does it. You just gave their jobs away.

If the town was serious and is so concerned about saving money, why don't you cut back on pay of the Director's of various departments? Oh, wait,didn't one of their husband's run the mayors campaign? Now it all makes sense.

The mayor is paying his favors back. Someone at the county must really want control over all the towns by taking over dispatch. Apparently a majority of the council does work for the county as well; conflict? And isn't it illegal to offer someone a "favor", perhaps a seat on a committee for dispatch, for a yes vote on this issue? 

It's good to know we have elected mindless zombies to vote on important matters that may mean life or death. It is pretty clear there is more common sense in the finger of a two year old than of some of those on the council.

As one councilman put it "We're doing this on nothing more than 'we'll figure it out.'" All for $20 per house for a decline in service. The time to figure it out isn't when the "you-know-what" hits the fan. It is too late at
that point. If that is the attitude, this is doomed to fail - and unfortunately lives may needlessly be lost.

That may be good enough for you but it's not for us. We will "Remember in November!"

- Concerned Citizens of Bridgewater Township


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here