DELTA - For the sake of public safety, CUPE municipal workers are urging city councillors to keep emergency dispatchers in Delta.
CUPE Local 454, which represents Delta dispatchers and other public employees, supports efforts to upgrade the citys emergency radio system, but it opposes a proposal to contract-out dispatch services.
“We are very concerned that contracting-out dispatch services would jeopardize public safety,” says CUPE local president Darryl Robison. “Nobody knows our community like our Delta dispatchers. And thats important when dispatchers are taking emergency calls from the bluff, the horseshoe” or other local place names.”
The Delta Police Board has been considering proposals to upgrade the current radio system to E-Comm radio hardware and contract-out dispatch services.
But after hearing a presentation from the CUPE local, including several emergency dispatchers on June 17, the police board decided to gather more information before the issue goes to Delta Council for a decision in August or September.
Robison says CUPE members hope to persuade city councillors that the best way to keep our community safe is to keep our dispatchers in Delta.
- 30 -
Contact:
Darryl Robison
604-219-1201 or 604-946-1939