Governor Pat Quinn has proposed consolidating Illinois State Police Communications centers from the current 21 Districts to 4 regional
centers at an estimated cost of over $15 million. This is reportedly a low estimate and the money will be asked for as "Capital Funding". Each
district headquarters will remain open so there will be no cost savings. In fact, there will be cost outlays in expanding existing communications centers at the 4 centers that will house the regional dispatching centers. Currently, each district communications center is capable of answering other districts radio traffic as they are now. At a time when communications is grossly understaffed, there is a plan to eliminate, through retirements and layoffs, an additional 60 personnel. This will greatly affect quality of dispatching, officer safety and sever an important link to the local community.
In 1995, District 18 in Litchfield and District 9 in Springfield consolidated and were then split apart in 2006. Consolidation has also proven to be a mistake in Indiana with a decrease in quality of dispatching and relaying of critical information.
At a time when our state is in a budget quandry, our state cannot afford to spend massive amounts of money on something that does not need
to be "fixed".
Please contact Governor Quinn and your State of Illinois legislators regarding this important matter and urge them to vote against the Capital Funding that would allow the consolidation of Illinois State Police communication centers in Illinois.
You can find your legislators at the following link:
http://www.elections.il.gov/districtlocator/districtofficialsearchbyaddress.aspx
I also urge you to sign another petition for AFSCME regarding stopping Governor Quinn's budget cuts at
http://action.afscme.org/c/293/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3823
Thank you for your support in telling our state government to stop wasting tax payers money.
We the undersigned are imploring you to vote against Capital Funding that would allow the consolidation of Illinois State Police communications centers at a cost of greater than $15 million. At a time when Governnor Quinn is touting the creation of new jobs, he is asking for elimination of communications jobs. This will greatly affect reponse time to calls, quality of dispatching services and officer safety of the troopers that our state relies upon to keep us safe. Please vote against this funding and keep communications staffed at the local level.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
