SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Citing concerns about years-long plans to create a regional dispatch center in Chittenden County, South Burlington Police last week unveiled their own state-of-the-art facility.
The department only had two workstations but has now doubled in size and upgraded to new technology. South Burlington Police Chief Shawn Burke says the whole upgrade cost roughly $400,000 in both ARPA and surplus from this years budget. He says as the South Burlington community continues to grow, their focus needed to be on building locally.
“Where regional communication — where that initiative goes moving forward I think that’s a bit of an unknown. I think it will remain to be something that’s thought about in terms of the initial appetite for what that meant for efficiency and interoperability, but it was time for South Burlington to invest in our center,” Burke said.
He says with their new capacity, the department would be able to support another agency if they wanted to contract with the city but that there are no plans to move forward with the regional dispatch plans.
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