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Council reviews $4.1 million 9-1-1 support grant and $528,156 training award for telecommunicators
Summary
The committee heard from the BPD 9-1-1 operations director about a $4,125,000 public-safety answering point support grant to maintain the CAD backbone and sustain center staffing across agencies, plus a $528,156.32 training grant shared among the three public-safety agencies to certify telecommunicators.
Chris Marcunas, director of the operations 9-1-1 division for the Boston Police Department, described two state grants that support the city's emergency response infrastructure.
Marcunas said a $4,125,000 9-1-1 support and incentive grant from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security will help fund computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system maintenance — "the backbone the technical backbone of the 911 response system" — and defray staffing costs for the emergency operations center shared among Boston Fire Alarm, Boston EMS and Boston Police Operations. He described the grant as an annual award that scales with call volume and population.
He also described a $528,156.32 training grant for 9-1-1 telecommunicators, noting that those funds are divided across the three public-safety agencies to support telecommunicator certification and other training. "That grant assists us in making sure that all of our 9-1 telecommunicators and dispatchers amongst all 3 agencies are certified and up to date on their requirements," Marcunas said. Marcunas added a lighter aside about the figure: "I don't know where they got the 32¢, but apparently, it's not it's the formula."
Councilors inquired later in the hearing about operator training for domestic-violence and sexual-assault calls and how clinical referrals are coordinated with school and community partners. The committee did not take a vote on these grants during the session.
