Danbury/Neighbors May Announce Regional Dispatch

For months, officials in Newtown, Danbury, Bethel, Brookfield and Ridgefield have been collaborating on a feasibility study to regionalize police and emergency dispatch.

The plans have apparently reached a point where officials have scheduled a press conference Tuesday afternoon in Danbury to presumably make an announcement.

Officials deferred questions on the subject to that press conference, however, plans on the concept have been in discussion for months now.

Newtown First Selectman Pat Llodra also has said at a past Board of Selectmen meeting that the town, along with the other municipalities, were drafting nonbinding letters of intent and had sent two representatives to a joint task force looking into the matter.

If the plans were to proceed, the regional dispatch center would be likely based in Danbury, officials have said. The center also would be considered a trailblazer in the state and the largest regional dispatch in Connecticut.

Newtown officials  in dispatch expenses as well open opportunities for better training, advanced technology and other dispatching amenities that would come from collaborating with other towns, rather than separately. The state also has a $250,000 incentive grant that can be used to pay for the center.

Under the plan, the towns would contract dispatch services to a third-party company with expertise in regional centers.

One of the concerns will be whether the town will continue to staff the Newtown police station 24x7 to help residents who walk in needing help and monitor suspects held for court or until they are released on bond. A potential solution may be to create a regional lock-up, officials have said.