EASTON — Police Chief Gary Sullivan and Fire Chief Kevin Partridge are pleased to announce that as of today Easton’s 911 dispatch services will now be provided by the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Emergency Communications Center (SEMRECC).
The SEMRECC will provide the Towns of Easton, Foxborough, Mansfield and Norton with enhanced emergency communication capabilities and technology to protect residents, visitors and businesses in those communities. The center will provide dispatch services for the police and fire departments in all towns, handling all landline and cellular 911 calls and text to 911 from residents.
“Our transition from an in-house dispatch service to a regional center is a move that should ultimately shorten the Easton Police and Fire Departments’ emergency response time,” Chief Sullivan said. “With the center’s up-to-date communication capabilities and technology, our quality of work and response time will be greatly improved upon.”
Prior to this switch, dispatch services were housed at the Easton Police Station where they received approximately 15,000 calls on average for service each year. These calls will now be received at the regional dispatch center instead and the space that housed dispatch at the Easton Police Station will now be used as a workspace for a station officer.
“We are extremely pleased to be a joining member of the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Emergency Communications Center,” Chief Partridge said. “We look forward to this new endeavour and how it will drastically improve our emergency services. Through joining SEMRECC, we will have the technology to streamline the process in which we receive information to better serve our community.”
As of today, with the addition of the Town of Easton’s services, SEMRECC is now the largest 911 district in the Commonwealth and the first to service any Bristol County community.
The regional dispatch district was officially formed in November 2017 and that same year SEMRECC received their first grant. Exactly three years later, SEMRECC went live in its new facility this past November.
“While the average 911 regionalization project takes seven to 10 years from the first grant award, SEMRECC was able to accomplish their project in just three years,” Executive Director Rob Verdone said. “This abridged schedule is largely credited to the incredible teamwork and collaboration between all eight departments and the strong support from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security and State 911.”
The SEMRECC building, 100 High Rock Road, in Foxborough was originally designed and built for AT&T during the Cold War. Renovations on the building began in January 2020 and were finished in early November.
The project was paid for through the competitive Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) State 911 Regional PSAP Development Grant.
More information about the project can be found here.
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