The busy-bee buzz of additional workers will soon descend upon the Lisbon post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. But at the Canfield post, the sounds of chirping crickets may be the only audible noise outside of regular business hours.
Starting Aug. 25, highway patrol dispatching operations will be eliminated in Canfield and doubled in Lisbon, part of a statewide dispatching consolidation, said Lt. Michael Orosz, the Lisbon Post Commander.
"All the phone calls that Canfield receives from the public will ring right into Lisbon," Orosz said. "It's not going to affect the troopers doing their jobs on the roads. When the Canfield troopers talk on the radio, they'll be answered by the Lisbon Post."
Similar dispatching consolidations have happened across the state, Orosz said.
The moves are designed to cut costs by reducing overtime and to better utilize new technology used by the highway patrol. Those new technologies including laptops and global positioning systems (GPS) in every patrol vehicle, computer aided dispatching and the Multi-Agency Radio Communication System (MARCS), a digital radio system, said Sgt. Anne Ralston, a highway patrol spokesperson.
The five dispatchers currently working in Canfield will be reassigned to work alongside Lisbon's five dispatchers, Orosz said.
There will be no layoffs or job losses due to the consolidation, Orosz said. "That's not anticipated to happen," Orosz said.
Lisbon was chosen over Canfield in part because the Lisbon Post is housed in a newer building and Lisbon's dispatch area is four or five times larger than Canfield's, Orosz said.
The consolidation will create times when there is nobody staffing the Canfield Post because the secretary has gone home and troopers are on the road, Orosz said.
If someone comes to the post seeking assistance during unstaffed hours, there is a call box installed in the front lobby.
"All the public has to do is pick up that phone," Orosz said. "As soon as they pick up that phone it rings down here [in Lisbon]. There's also a camera mounted in that lobby. So when someone walks into that lobby, we can see them down here."
