The IXP civilian-staffed 911 dispatch center, which is expected to save the City over $1 million dollars annually, has officially gone live. The City of Danbury, CT partnered with IXP Corporation last year to consolidate the City’s 911 operations and provide highly trained and certified Telecommunicators. Previously all calls had gone directly into both the police and fire stations, now they are routed into the new centralized communications center.
IXP civilian dispatchers allows Danbury to utilize three more police officers for patrol, rather than having to use them to answer phones. The Fire Department will also benefit by not having to use manpower on answering 911 calls. The City’s Fire Chief, T.J. Wiedl, stated “There is a tremendous wow factor in terms of how good this is going to be for the community.”
Each call station at the center is equipped with an 8 monitor computer setup, running the latest computer-aided dispatching technology. All of the dispatchers have been meticulously trained and are closely working with the current police staff. In addition, many of the dispatchers are former Police Officers, Firemen/women, and EMT’s. The Mayor of Danbury, Mark Boughton said, “IXP has done a phenomenal job at organizing and developing our new combined 911 dispatch center. Their staff is knowledgeable, hardworking, and committed. This was a complex project, and the City of Danbury is proud to have IXP as our partner.” The public-private partnership has been a great success and with the smooth transition to live operations of the new dispatch center, IXP is optimistic for what the future holds for the City of Danbury.