Provo and Orem may combine their 911 dispatch centers

PROVO, Utah — Officials in the neighboring cities of Provo and Orem, Utah, want to combine their 911 dispatch centers. They told Provo City Council members that the move would save money and improve response times.

At a meeting of the Provo City Council, the Provo Fire Chief James Miguel said that having separate dispatch centers for the two cities delays response times. He said that, sometimes, people in Orem call 911 but the call accidentally goes to the Provo center.

And sometimes it happens the other way around.

Miguel said the two cities work together during large emergencies, and that would be easier, he said, if the the Provo and Orem dispatch centers were combined.

Another reason to combine the centers involves dispatch employees. Miguel said call center employees would experience less burnout if the two cities combined forces.

Provo City council members were generally in support of the plan. But two members voiced concern about the timing, asking why the council hadn’t heard about the problem sooner.

The proposal to merge the dispatch centers now awaits approval from both the Provo and Orem city councils.

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