New 911 Call Center for Fairfield, Westport Opens at SHU
Collaboration with local police forces creates efficiencies and lower emergency response times
Sacred Heart University’s main campus is now home to a new 911 dispatch center operated by the Fairfield and Westport police departments. It is the first municipality-run emergency call center in the state to combine two towns with an outside partner.
The two communities obtained the space from SHU for $1 per year for the next 25 years and invested $3.7 million to transform the center into a state-of-the-art facility. The center combines police and fire dispatchers and emergency responders from Fairfield and Westport under one roof. The towns are leasing the first floor of the Ryan Matura Library for the center, which will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The new location provides easy dispatch to either town and is equipped with state-of-the-art technology necessary to respond to emergencies quickly.
“The Fairfield County Regional Dispatch Center, located on the campus of Sacred Heart University, is yet another innovative community partnership that will streamline public safety responses in both Fairfield and Westport,” said Fairfield Police Chief Robert Kalamaras ’17.
Officials in Westport and Fairfield began discussions about five years ago aimed at streamlining their 911 call centers, which each town managed separately. When they approached SHU about a partnership, University officials eagerly explored the possibility of establishing a regional center on the main campus.
Gary MacNamara, SHU’s executive director of public safety & government affairs, recalled the origin of the move. “While I was the police chief in Fairfield, the Westport chief and I were looking for ways to become more efficient and effective in the services we provided. We looked at the 911 centers each of us had as a potential area to combine resources. SHU President John Petillo has always been supportive of the larger community and first responders, and he agreed to help us find a solution,” he said.
MacNamara said having one center to serve both towns establishes a better flow of communication, reduces duplication of resources and increases the incident response rate. “The collaboration also shows that SHU is eager to partner with others to solve problems in unique and groundbreaking ways,” he said.
Westport Police Chief Fostios Koskinas said planning and bringing the facility to fruition “has been one of the longest, if not the longest, project in my 26-year career in law enforcement. It was an incredible opportunity to better serve our communities while keeping our police officers, firefighters and emergency medical workers safer. I truly believe that, while we overcame an unbelievable number of hurdles to get where we are today, this project most likely would have failed if we had not had the partnership with SHU. We certainly would not have the opportunity for growth to better serve other neighboring communities.”
In addition to increasing efficiency and safety for Westport and Fairfield, the new dispatch center provides another level of security and safety on campus and increases the collaboration, speed of communication and interactions with SHU’s public safety department.
Kalamaras said Sacred Heart University’s generosity and collaboration played a critical role in planning and constructing the new center. “The opening of this regional center is an exciting moment as we work to not only meet but exceed the increasing needs of the communities we serve,” he said.