Plan to consolidate 911 call centers draws fire

A plan to consolidate 911 emergency call centers across the state is drawing fire in northwestern Minnesota.

[Fishing_guy]

They closed our call center in our city a few years ago and moved it to the county seat. The one time I used it, it took twice as long to make the call and twice as long for the officer to arrive. They didn't know the local area.

[Burnsville Citizen]

Dakota County has a consolidated 911 Center but it is staffed by people who used to work at all the individual centers (My husband & I spoke with some of the operaters at an open house at the fire station). There is a cost savings as you are only using 1 building vs many. There is also a larger number of people to answer calls when it is busy.