Morton Grove, Niles To Get New 9-1-1 Dispatch

When you call 911 with an emergency, who answers the phone?

You may  not know it, but it's being answered by an intergovernmental cooperative called the North Suburban Emergency Communications Center, which operates out of Des Plaines City Hall.

All that is about to change, however. The city of Des Plaines has been indicating for years that it needs the office space NSSEC occupies, said Sherrill Ornberg, its executive director.

That need for space, along with municipalities seeking more cost-effective service, was the impetus that started the villages of Niles and Morton Grove on the search for a new provider of dispatch and 9-1-1 services. 

Both villages will switch to emergency dispatch service provided by the Village of Glenview, and both will reap cost savings by doing so. For Morton Grove, the handover to Glenview dispatch takes place Jan. 3; for Niles, it will likely be the first or second week of March, said Brent Reynolds, public safety support services director of the village of Glenview.  

Both villages will reap substantial cost savings by the move. Ornberg explained that NSSEC provided a high level of staffing and customer service to the public and to the police, but because the agency is amply staffed, and the staff has many years of experience, their cost for salaries is high.

"They've (NSSEC) been great for us, but it's getting cramped, and it's really not cost effective," Niles Police Chief Dean Strzelecki told the Niles village board at its August meeting. He also noted its computer-aided dispatch system was old and it would cost NSSEC $1.7 million to update it.

"We looked at other options. Glenview is the one that stands out," Strzelecki told the board.

Niles trustees asked numerous questions about the service Glenview would provide, its hardware and software resources and the training of its dispatchers.

Niles Trustee Andrew Przybylo emphasized that Niles citizens have to be able to be sure that when they call 911, someone is going to pick up the call and respond to it.

At the Sept. 25 meeting, Niles Trustee Joe LoVerde asked Strzelecki if he was satisfied that the Glenview dispatch service would respond to emergencies reliably and capably, and Strzelecki said he was. The board then passed the resolution authorizing an intergovernmental agreement for dispatch services with Glenview.

By doing so, Niles' total estimated savings will be $2,343, 075 over five years, according to the resolution. 

The two remaining members of NSECC are Des Plaines and Park Ridge. Those two cities were investigating the possibility of getting emergency services through Northwest Central Dispatch, which is located in Arlington Heights; however, last week Northwest Central shut the door on that option and will not take on the two cities, Reynolds said.

Glenview is now preparing to take on dispatch duties for Niles and Morton Grove.

"The most important thing is the training of personnel and hiring of additional personnel," Reynolds said. "There is equipment, including a 911 system--it has to be upgraded--and new hardware, software, testing of it and training on it."

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