Lorain police move dispatch back in-house

LORAIN — Lorain police "flipped the switch" on its new dispatch center Wednesday morning. Bringing the city's police dispatch back in-house has been a yearlong process, including technology upgrades to the former dispatch center and hiring additional dispatchers. On Wednesday, dispatchers Mary Jo Graves and Officer Orlando Cruz were in the center that afternoon fielding calls and sending officers to assist residents in the International City. Lorain police Lt. Dennis Camarillo said dispatchers started the morning split between the county 911 center in Elyria and the Lorain police department to make sure services transitioned smoothly. By about 7:30 a.m., everything was transferred to Lorain. On average, Lorain will have two dispatchers working at all times, with the option to add a third person to help cover large events at Black River Landing or elsewhere in the city. The department currently has 10, and with another five in training and plans to hire one more to bring it up to 16 full-time dispatchers, Capt. Jacob Morris said. Several of its officers and road patrol sergeants will also be cross-trained to cover when dispatchers take breaks or if someone calls off sick. "911 was great, we gave it a shot," Morris said. "We have nothing bad to say." Lorain police moved its dispatch to the county center in 2020 with a trial run of 911 dispatching the city's night shift. When Police Chief Jim McCann first announced plans to move dispatch back to the Lorain Police Department early last year, he said the department currently rotates three dispatchers for shifts at the county 911 center, and fills the rest with police officers and overtime shifts. He said county 911 provides one to two dispatchers on night shifts. Morris said the plan was to hand the city's dispatch entirely over to the county, but staffing levels made that unsustainable — so it made sense to move it back to Lorain police. County Commissioner Dave Moore said it was "unfortunate" that Lorain property owners will pay for dispatch at the city and county — as they pay for the city's police levy and the county's 911 levy. He said he was happy with how the county's dispatch center is running, and anticipates "good things" once it upgrades its towers this summer. Those towers are part of the MARCS system, a radio communication system used by a majority of Ohio counties and state agencies. The county contracted with Motorola to install the system for about $17 million, in a move largely criticized by local police and fire chiefs. The state promised $10 million in maintenance and upgrades to the system in Lorain County through 2044. "It's not my fault the city of Lorain decided they could do it on their own," Moore said. "I can't really understand why they want to go on their own, but that's the beauty of the government — we're not going to tell them what to do." Lorain County 911 Director Rob Berner said Lorain's departure from the county system does not change much at 911, other than not having to fill Lorain dispatch shifts. The county has 34 full-time dispatchers, with another four in training. Its goal is 40 full-time dispatchers, he said. At its lowest, it only had about 20 dispatchers, prompting those at the county to work massive amounts of overtime. He said residents calling in to 911 for service from Lorain police will see no change — the county will connect that person with dispatchers at LPD. "All they did was move buildings from our perspective," he said. Remodeling the center cost between $400,000 and $500,000 paid out of the police levy fund, McCann and Mayor Jack Bradley said. Ten of its dispatchers are paid out of the general fund and the rest are paid out of the levy. Prior to moving to county dispatch, Lorain police had always held its own dispatch center. The last time that center received major upgrades was the mid 2000s. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.