BUENA PARK : Police to Show Off New Dispatch Unit

The Police Department will open its doors to the public Saturday to display its new communications dispatch center.

The $360,000 center was built next to police headquarters at the Civic Center and will include new equipment that will update the department’s communications capabilities, said Sgt. Terry Branum. The new facility holds three dispatcher stations.

Dispatchers “have been down there in the basement for the last 10 years, and it’s time to get up to date on computer-aided equipment,” Branum said. “We’re looking to improve our response time.”

The department receives 350,000 calls a year, he said.

Aside from the initial cost of the center, no additional money will be required to operate the center, Branum said, because no additional staff will be needed. The proposed Police Department budget is $10.8 million, or 28% of the city’s total budget.

In addition to the new communications center, the Police Department hopes to install mobile data transmitters in police cars by the end of the year, Branum said. The transmitters would allow officers to check the computer database for records, previous calls to certain locations throughout the city and other information now retrieved by the dispatchers.

The database and the cost of the program would be shared by the Buena Park, Brea, La Habra and Fullerton police departments.

As part of the dedication program Saturday, police officers will give tours of the new facility and the city jail from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will provide information on the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, gang prevention and the SWAT team.

A dedication ceremony with Chief Richard M. Tefank and Mayor Rhonda J. McCune at 9:30 a.m. will include speeches and a ribbon cutting.

The Buena Park Police Assn. and the Kiwanis Club will offer an all-you-can-eat, $2.50 pancake breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m. to benefit the department’s DARE program.

The Civic Center is at 6650 Beach Blvd.