This summer, the Shasteen Building on the APSU Campus built a new Dispatch Center, to replace the old one.
“We moved the dispatch center for better personnel security and better information security,” assistant vice president for Public Safety Michael J. Kasitz said.
Previously, the dispatch center had been behind a public accessible window in the lobby of the Shasteen building.
“Because of the amount of phone calls and radio traffic, having the dispatcher sit at a public window like we used to created interruptions that took away from them focusing on the radio and phone,” Kasitz said.
To clarify, Kasitz commented on the functionality of the dispatch center, in relation to the APSU police.
“The dispatch center is where all complaints come into the police department, and the dispatcher sends the police officers to then render assistance,” Kasitz said. “ It is very busy because the dispatcher relays information to and from multiple entities. All information regarding an incident pass through the dispatcher.”
In regards to the center itself, Kasitz believes that the new space provides a more efficient and safe space for the dispatcher to conduct their duties.
In addition to the new location, Kasitz noted there were equipment and quality of life upgrades for the center, including a new recording device.
“All the phone calls that come into our office are recorded. The radio traffic is recorded. So that we can go back and review if we need to,” Kasitz said. “So not only did we upgrade furniture and things like that, we upgraded our systems to operate better.”
With the recording device also came a custom-built desk that raises to the dispatcher’s preferred height, a collection of computer monitors so that the dispatcher can have all their required apps and programs open at once.
“We also added multiple screens, more than two, so that they could have different applications open,” Kasitz said. “Applications like the LiveSafe monitor, fire alarm monitoring, email, banner, parking software, so she’s not wasting time fumbling between apps on one or two screens. The hardest thing is finding which screen your cursor is on.”
“It’s much better,” Beth Williams said. Williams is one of the dispatchers that work for the police station.
“We didn’t have to renovate much to the office space. It was just buying the equipment. I want to say we probably spent about $40,000. I mean, it wasn’t that expensive. It was mostly furniture and other things,” Kasitz said.
The new dispatch center is located in the Shasteen building and is up and running. The Shasteen building houses both the APSU Police Station and the Physical Plant.
