As the president of the Gorham Police Officers Union I have been asked to clarify the Gorham Police Officer’s Union’s position on the merger of the Gorham Dispatch Center and the Cumberland County Communications Center.
At a recent union meeting, with a majority of the union members present, it was unanimously decided that we would support dispatch in whatever legal means necessary in order to assist with efforts to keep Gorham’s Dispatch Center in Gorham.
The members had and still have many unanswered questions about the merger. More recently, the administrators making decisions about the merger have seemingly been more forthcoming with information. However, members are still concerned about the effects of the merger.
While we wish to be very careful and not offend our colleagues at the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, concerns about officer safety and overall communication issues top the list of concerns. We are very concerned that the full impact of this consolidation will not be immediately felt. Dispatchers provide so many services to the town and more importantly to us, the police officers, than we can fully comprehend at this time. Our officers have already felt the effects of this consolidation. More reliability on computers in the cruisers, more paperwork generated, more time involved with sending facsimiles, dealing with court paperwork, summonses, warrants and etc… that will need to be sent or transferred from our department to the Cumberland County Dispatch Center and etc. ..
These small tasks will likely add up and will consume much of our officer’s time that could result in less time out on patrol. Undoubtedly, there will be numerous trips to the Cumberland County Dispatcher Center, which is located in Windham. Granted, it is only located a short distance from the Gorham town line. Under ideal circumstances that might be fine. However, if there happen to be only two officers working, not only does that take one of those officers out of town, it puts that officer out of position to respond to emergency calls. Currently, it is difficult enough to respond timely for emergency calls without adding another reason for our officers to be out of town.
I hope this letter has helped to clarify the police officers union’s position on the dispatch consolidation. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at 839-5581.
Dana Thompson
Union President
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