Muskego Police Chief: Vrakas' Comments Are Misinformed

It wasn't likely that the words of County Executive Dan Vrakas regarding cellular 911 service in Muskego would sit well with Chief Paul Geiszler.

"At the very least it's misinformation, and that's the kindest word I can use," Geiszler said.

The city has filed a formal complaint with the FCC to release access to cell towers, enabling the city to reroute 911 cell calls coming from Muskego to its own dispatch center.  Presently these calls go to Waukesha County, and Geiszler has been adamant that as much as 90 seconds are spent in the transfer of these calls back to Muskego.

After reading a release from Vrakas, who himself said Muskego did not have all of the information on the matter, Geiszler and IT Director John Wisniewski addressed  the points in Vrakas' statement.

"With regard to Muskego's limited capability with cellular 911, we have exactly the same technology that the county has at its dispatch center (WCCC)," Wisniewski said. "We are able to take information from these calls and plot the coordinates of the call, and this information retransmits so that someone that is moving will be replotted on a map that our dispatchers are viewing to pinpoint their location."

Wisniewski also took issue with the subject of callers encountering a busy signal, stating that new upgrades with AT&T allow for more lines - not just two - to be used for emergency calls.  In layman's terms, new technology allows for lines (called trunks) to recognize a 911 call, whether it's from a land line or a cell phone, to allow the call to make it through on whatever line is open.

He also explained that the city's hope was to work with the county to develop a memo of understanding that if in rare cases all lines (as many as five) were occupied, these calls would go to WCCC.

Geiszler explained that while the department has one dedicated dispatcher, a second clerk is also present, and that person is equally trained to take 911 calls. At a recent public safety meeting, Geiszler also said all dispatchers have received emergency medical dispatch training (EMD) as the staff at WCCC has.

He maintained that Muskego's capabilities would serve the city better than those out of the community, and took issue with some of the statistics Vrakas posted regarding outside calls being captured by the new system.

"He presented numbers that indicated 33 percent of the calls we would receive would come from elsewhere, like Franklin or New Berlin, however I have yet to see any documentation showing this to be true," Geiszler argued.

Previous statistics provided by Richard Tuma, Director of Emergency Preparedness for Waukesha County, indicated that 2.4 calls per day were received at WCCC over the course of 2010.  Should that statistic bear out, the additional 'outside' 911 calls from cellular phones based on Vrakas' statement would amount to 1.2 additional calls to Muskego dispatch every day.

Wisniewski was quick to point out that at 3.6 calls on average, their available lines to take emergency calls would still cover that concern.

Vrakas and County Supervisors Dan Draeger and Peter Gundrum who represent Muskego on the County Board, will be invited to meet with the Public Safety Committee at their next meeting.  Requests for comment from either supervisor have not been answered to date.