After months of research and analysis, a former and current Legislative Council member, who stressed they were not working for the council, recommended to the Board of Selectmen last month that the town go forward and determine “the best path” for joining a regional emergency dispatch system. In making their recommendation, Jeff Capeci and Neil Chaudhary emphasized that the town could potentially save 30 percent of the $1.03 million it now spends by consolidating Newtown’s dispatch services with the operations of a regional service in Torrington. The pair also claimed the move could improve both public safety and response times for first responders to emergency calls. And they suggested that such regional dispatch arrangements might become mandatory in the future. While they did recognize “concerns” about the move to regionalization, they saw no reason to shelve the idea at this point.

The referenced “concerns” at the selectmen’s meeting, however, were voiced rather pointedly on August 5 and again this week, when the Police Commission asserted its outright opposition to the move to the two investigators. The commission echoed criticisms and questions previously raised by the Newtown Police Union, Board of Fire Commissioners, and the chief of the Volunteer Ambulance Corps. The Capeci / Chaudhary inquiry got red lights on the proposal from first responders all over town, so their green light to the Board of Selectmen seemed out of synch with the emerging consensus among those most closely associated with Newtown’s emergency dispatch services.

We would understand the seeming contradiction if the months-long study uncovered some hard evidence of advantages that would outweigh local apprehensions about scrapping a dispatch system that not only isn’t broken but was nationally recognized for its exemplary performance through the ultimate and nearly unthinkable challenge thrown at it on 12/14. It seems the only thing keeping the regionalization plan moving forward is the prospect of saving money. Like most things on the short-list of perceived benefits, this promise of extra green for the town is an estimate: up to the $350,000 in the latest accounting given the selectmen. With Newtown’s public safety on the line, we want to hear a plan of action that relies a little less on an assessment of benefits that  “should” or “could” or “might” accrue to the town and a little more on those that “will.”

These things we do know. There is no mandate for regionalization or any plans for a mandate. The projected savings are estimates dependent on anticipated state incentives and grants of uncertain duration and on the uncalculated local expense for keeping the police station at 3 Main Street accessible to the public 24/7. Also, every local emergency service has expressed grave reservations about moving ahead with this plan. Somehow, it doesn’t look like a green light to us.

Even if regional dispatch centers are one day mandated by the state, as Mr Chaudhary suggested (again without any evidence or basis for this belief), moving Newtown’s proven dispatch services out of town should be a last resort. As Police Commission Paul Mangiafico suggested on August 5, it would be better to use Newtown as the nucleus of a new regional center serving other area towns, rather than to append the town’s 40,000 annual emergency dispatch calls to some distant call center’s to-do list.

(This editorial was corrected on 9/4/14 to reflect Jeff Capeci's status as a former member of the Legislative Council.)