BE ON THE
LOOKOUT ! Here's
what the future has in store for LAPD
Communications
When the CDC opened
in 1983, it embodied the future of
law enforcement communications in Los Angeles.
However, within a year of the center's opening,
the call-volume had surpassed estimates for the
1990s. Currently approximately 6000 emergency
calls and 8000 non-emergency calls are received
daily, and about 5500 of these are dispatched to
police units.
This has caused a
number of problems, mainly because of the lack of
room to expand. Over 600 employees are assigned
to Communications Division. Dispatching is
handled by civilian Police Service
Representatives (PSRs),
with as many as 90 people on the dispatch floor
at any given time, including supervisors and
trainees.
A 1992 bond issue to
revamp communications once again is about to come
to fruition. Expected to cost a total of $250
million, two new "state-of-the-art"
dispatch centers are nearing completion - one at
1st and Los Angeles Streets, next to Parker
Center Police Headquarters, and the other 23001
Roscoe Blvd in Canoga Park.
The downtown "Metropolitan
Communications Dispatch Center" will
generally handle the nine patrol areas and two
traffic divisions in Central and South Bureaus,
while the "Valley
Communications Dispatch Center" will handle
calls for the nine patrol areas and two traffic
divisions in the West and Valley Bureaus. The two centers will
at all times be connected with each other in
real-time by fiber-optic and microwave networks;
in the event of a disaster, equipment failure or
problem at either center, the other will be able
to absorb some or all of the workload almost
instantly.
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