University Police is ending its dispatch call center and will begin outsourcing officer responses to What-Comm 911 on Jan. 1, 2025.
The new service is part of a $160,000 one-year contract between the university and What-Comm 911. With the addition of Western’s police force, will begin servicing every police department in Whatcom County in 2025. This switch is anticipated to save the university approximately $200,000, according to Vice President for Business & Financial Affairs Joyce Lopes.
“What-Comm can [respond] much more efficiently because you can have five dispatchers on at a time dispatching multiple agencies, and you can get better economies of scale,” Lopes said.
In preparation to transition away from its internal dispatch unit, Western looked at other four-year institutions in Washington and their consolidated dispatch systems. The decision came after several years of consideration, Lopes said.
In addition to increased calls from the campus community, dispatchers at What-Comm 911 already receive and make more than 335,000 calls every year. University Police are currently down from five to three full-time dispatchers, a situation which would be harder to keep up with if it were to persist in this manner, University Police Chief Katy Potts said.
In September, Potts began increasing the frequency of cross-functional training between University Police and the Bellingham Police Department from a couple of times per year to around 10 times per year to prepare for increased collaboration. Bellingham Police Department’s new bike unit will soon be around Western’s campus to get familiarized with the grounds, Potts said.
Potts and Lopes each stress that this change will decrease response time to calls and that no officers will be leaving as a result of the changing dispatch.
“The consolidation of dispatch streamlines communication between our university police officers and other responding agencies [allow] for greater awareness of incidents throughout the county,” according to an announcement by University Police.
Potts believes this quicker response time is crucial for the department going forward.
“Communication is always the first thing that is looked at in any kind of major incident,” Potts said. “And if we can speed that up, that's what we're going to do.”
Austin Wright (he/him) is a campus news reporter for The Front this quarter. He is a third-year journalism/news ed major. When he’s not reporting, you can find him playing ultimate frisbee, watching soccer or hiking. You can reach him at austinwright.thefront@gmail.com.
