Controversy continues to rage within local political and law-enforcement circles over the wisdom of setting up a regional emergency dispatch center.
Danvers Selectman Keith Lucy has made it his personal mission to scuttle plans for a countywide facility based at the sheriff’s headquarters in Middleton. He’d prefer something on a smaller scale involving his and perhaps a few other communities.
But proponents, including Danvers police Chief Neil Ouellette say a more wide-ranging operation makes more sense from both a cost and operational point of view.
The Regional 911 proposal has been receiving mixed reviews at area town meetings, with some towns opting to explore it further and others rejecting it outright. Swampscott voters said they’d like to hear more, those in Marblehead said they want nothing to do with it.In any case, let’s hope whoever is manning the phone is more professional than the officer at this Michigan police station who was the subject of a recent TV news investigation:
