Bernards Police Now Using County Dispatch

As of 7 a.m. on Sunday morning, all township-based calls to 9-1-1 or to the department's main phone number of 908-766-1122 are being answered by the Somerset County dispatching service.

The transition went smoothly, said Township Administrator Bruce McArthur.

Since that time, calls that had been going to an internal dispatching system based at police headquarters at 1 Collyer Lane now are switched to a centralized county system that now serves eight county police departments, McArthur said.

Since then, a phone has been placed outside the police department entrance where anyone who shows up seeking police assistance can dial the dispatch center.

However, McArthur and Police Lt. Mike Shimsky said that phone soon will be replaced by a video phone system that can immediately link the caller to the county dispatchers.

Shimsky said on Tuesday morning that the linkup to the video system had not been completed, and the phone remained outside the main entrance to headquarters.

McArthur on Monday said Bernards Township will be the first police department of the eight departments now hooked into the county dispatch system to set up the video phone link. He said the township has been working closely on the transition with William Stahl, Somerset County Director of Public Health & Safety.

County dispatch service already had been answering 9-1-1 calls

The Somerset County dispatching service already has been handling Bernards Township's 9-1-1 calls since last summer, officials announced previously.

The switchover to the county dispatch system — which leaves two local dispatchers at the police headquarters to handle support services for local police and emergency reponders, and also to greet the public from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays — was about a year in the discussion.

McArthur said the idea of joining the county system was sparked by Long Hill Township's announcement last year that it would end a joint dispatching agreement with Bernards police, and instead hook into the Morris County dispatching system.

Switching to the county's dispatch service, supported by Somerset County and already serving other of county municipalities without charge, will save the township somewhere between $450,000 to $500,000 each year, McArthur said. The number of towns served was a handful when the proposal was first considered, but has grown since then, he said on Thursday.

At Tuesday's Township Committee meeting, McArthur said most of that cost went to pay the salaries of dispatchers at headquarters. as of this April, there were a total of 12 dispatchers serving the two communities, and housed at Bernards Township headquarters, McArthur said previously.

Township officials initially had believed they would need to purchase new equipment compatible with the county's communications system. However, McArthur said last week that pending further upgrades means that the township can continue to use its current radio system for the time being.

He said other large departments also are in talks about joining the county dispatch system, which at this time does not assess an individual charge for the police departments it is serving as a main dispatch center.

So far, the other local police departments relying on the county dispatch service include, Far Hills, Peapack-Gladstone, Bedminster, Branchburg, Raritan Borough, Somerville and Montgomery, McArthur said.

Bernardsville Borough is among those municipalities that maintain a local dispatch service, partially because officials there said that the county radios do not reach all sections of Bernardsville mountain. to set up a joint dispatch service to replace the agreement with Long Hill Township.

Meanwhile a countywide report taking a look at the is likely to be released soon, he said.