The Dane County automated non-emergency phone system went live at 7 a.m. Saturday. The implementation of the technology has generated legal issues between the city and the county over parking enforcement disputes.
The controversial computerized system is designed to assist in properly directing non-emergency calls away from 911 dispatchers, said Josh Wescott, communications director for County Executive Kathleen Falk.
""The Dane County Safety Communications Non-Emergency Line"" was initiated in response to an external audit on the Dane County 911 Center.
Wescott said the phone system institutes automatic attendant technology on the non-emergency line only.
The audit concluded the highest priority for the 911 Center is dislodging the calls currently handled by emergency dispatchers that do not require any public safety personnel, such as police cars, fire-trucks or ambulances, said Joel Plant, assistant to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.
According to Plant, non-emergency calls account for most of the police officers' work, including theft, shoplifting and noise complaints.
As the county prepared to implement the system, legal tensions grew between the city of Madison and Dane County in regards to parking enforcement dispatch.
The city of Madison sued Dane County because of Falk's attempt to charge the city for the parking enforcement service as soon as the auto-attendant went into effect.
""We filed a temporary injunction to prevent the county from ceasing to provide a dispatch service that they have always provided for the city … The dispatch of our civilian parking enforcement officers,"" Plant said.
He said the city has used these officers as a more efficient mechanism to respond to parking enforcement calls of service. The county sought to stop the service unless they were paid to do so, an action city officials said was unauthorized.
Plant said the parking dispatch lawsuit is indicative of a greater issue, one which has spurred a separate but related lawsuit.
""The injunction request is hinged on the question whether the county executive can unilaterally implement a change in operating practice without the authority or approval of the 911 Center Board,"" he said.
The city of Madison and Dane County went to court Friday on the parking enforcement issue, where the court ruled on behalf of the city.
""[The temporary injunction] prevents the county from ceasing to provide parking dispatch services for the city,"" Plant said.
Wescott said the auto-attendant system has been successful thus far and received few to no objections.
He said the technology has been long developed with numerous committees and noted that the county is accepting feedback about the system.
However, Plant said that though the notion of an automated system has been discussed, each committee had careful recommendations in terms of what needed to be done before it got approval. He said these recommendations weren't regarded in a meaningful way.
