Until yesterday, if you dialed 911 in Mercer Island, your call was answered by an operator in Kirkland. As of today, that call will be routed to Bellevue City Hall. The Mercer Island police and fire department dispatch system has merged with 18 other departments under a new operation called Northeast King County Regional Communications Center (NORCOM). The new center, which is located in downtown Bellevue, consolidates dispatch for 19 Eastside fire and police departments under one roof. The move has been years in the making, according to Mercer Island Police Commander Leslie Burns, and has both operational and financial benefits.
“It’s going to replace smaller, individual centers operating on the Eastside. It will mean much quicker mutual aid,” Burns said.
The City of Mercer Island has been dispatching police calls to the Kirkland Police Station for the past three years and fire calls to the Eastside Communications Center, Burns explained. The new move to NORCOM in Bellevue will see Mercer Island joining 13 other fire agencies and four police agencies.
Guy Priszner worked as a dispatcher at the Kirkland Police Station for 19 years. Although he said he hates to see his position go, he understands the logic behind NORCOM.
“Some of the drawbacks to the original system were that, if an Island resident called 911, it came to us. Then there was a delay as we transferred the call to [Bellevue] to get emergency response on the way. That delay is being cut out now. This alone has the potential for huge benefit,” Priszner said.
Burns, who has worked tirelessly in setting up the new Bellevue-based dispatch system, echoed this point.
“It will provide seamless communication between business practices,” she said.
Cutting back on resources is another benefit, Burns pointed out.
“Ultimately, this means bigger savings for cities. Looking five, 10 years down the line, this is a big savings for Mercer Island,” the officer said.
The new call center, which is located in Bellevue City Hall, began operating on July 1. In the weeks prior, Eastside officers and NORCOM employees worked hours on end to test the new dispatching system. According to Burns, the most difficult task has been mastering the new software.
“There is so much different hardware with the new system. We need to get different vendors to talk with each other and develop similar interfaces. The technical aspect has been the most difficult,” she said.
But as of June 25, everything appeared ready to go.
“We did our final testing today [June 25]. We entered a variety of test calls for police, fire and mutual aid. It’s been pretty smooth sailing,” Burns said.
The Mercer Island officer added that the new system is designed to prioritize citizens, whether making 911 calls or non-emergency calls to fire and police departments.
As of today, there is also a new non-emergency number for Islanders to dial: (425) 885-3131. This replaces the old non-emergency number, which was (425) 587-3400, Burns said. The old number will automatically transfer over to the new number for the next few months, she added.
Although police officers and firefighters may have more work to do under NORCOM, the average resident should not notice a difference with the new system.
“Police radio airwaves will be busier. Our officers will have to get used to listening to their own call sign, since they will be sharing with other Eastside departments now. But our callers should not notice a difference,” she said.
The way NORCOM’s dispatch system works is that all police/fire/EMS calls — 911 and non-emergency alike — are directed from individual phone lines to the Bellevue dispatch center. An operator then radios the nearest emergency response team to tend to the call. Because Mercer Island has no emergency response center, the nearest provider is Bellevue. Now that the NORCOM Bellevue Center is operational, calls from Mercer Island will no longer be dispatched through Kirkland or the Eastside Communications Center, but directly to Bellevue.
For more information, visit: www.ci.kirkland.wa.us/depart/CMO/NORCOM.htm
