The Bridgewater Police Service has agreed to a 5-year deal worth $400,000 to operate as the Kentville Police Departments dispatchers.
BPS Deputy Chief Danny MacPhee spoke about the role dispatchers play “They can give a lot of very important information in a short time and it’s important that we have enough people that they can relay any information to officers on duty.”
He says previously Kentville had used a private company to handle their dispatching. According to McPhee having employees directly employed by a law enforcement agencies means dispatchers are able to access databases and information that otherwise would not be available.
Kentville will pay BPS $80,000 annually for the service. BPS says they have hired an additional staff member to help deal with the increased workload.
BPS has a similar agreement with Annapolis Royal who pay them $5,000 annually which is a much smaller community than Kentville with a population around 500.