KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Police in Kalamazoo expect to reduce costs and response times with Tuesday's live launch of the Kalamazoo County Consolidated Dispatch Authority (KCCDA).
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety says all KDPS non-emergency lines for the dispatch center, with the exception of 269-337-8994, are no longer in service. The new non-emergency number for Central Dispatch in Kalamazoo is 269-488-8911. There is no change in the emergency numbers. 911 remains operational for all emergency needs.
Five emergency dispatch agencies are centralized under the system: the cities of Kalamazoo and Portage, Kalamazoo County, Kalamazoo Township, and Western Michigan University.
It was four years ago to the day that the municipalities signed a consolidated-dispatch agreement. The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners approved a 911 surcharge back then to fund the Central Dispatch.
Kalamazoo DPS said in a Tuesday night news release that, "Due to the transfer of dispatch operations to the new Kalamazoo County Consolidated
Dispatch Authority, we will be experiencing intermittent outage of all non-emergency telephone numbers that were previously answered by Kalamazoo Public Safety; including 269-337-8994."
