Farmingville, NY – On February 27, Supervisor Ed Romaine, Councilwoman Jane Bonner, Public Safety Commissioner John Meehan and Chief Fire Marshal Christopher Mehrman announced the official opening of the Town’s new Public Safety Communications Center located on the 3rd floor at Town Hall. The new, state-of-the-art center serves as the hub of communications between all Town departments and divisions, as well as providing inter-operability with villages, county and state partners. It also serves as the monitoring base of the town wide surveillance camera system and drone technology for security and safeguarding of Town properties and equipment. The total cost of the center, which was funded through a FEMA grant, was $ 961,000.00, of which the Town paid $120,125.00.
The new Communications Center will be staffed by dispatchers who will handle calls for the Town’s Department of Public Safety, which includes Code Enforcement, Bay Constables, Fire Marshals and Safety/ Emergency Management. They will also handle the monitoring status of personnel and vehicles in the field assigned to the Department of Public Safety. During storms and other emergencies, the Communication Center will be staffed by additional dispatchers and other personnel as needed, integrated as part of the Town’s Emergency Operation Center. They will track storm conditions using strategically placed cameras and weather stations on the Town of Brookhaven’s north and south shores while monitoring local news and weather outlets to feed the latest information to the Emergency Operations Center. Post-storm damage assessments using drone technology will provide aerial video footage that is streamed back and viewed in real time at the center.
Supervisor Romaine said, “The Town’s Public Safety and Emergency Management personnel work very hard to keep residents and property safe 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This new Communication Center will allow them to be better prepared for whatever incident occurs and to respond to it in a timely manner that could save lives.”
Councilwoman Bonner, Town Board Liaison to the Department of Public Safety said, “This new Communication Center is one of the most comprehensive and technologically advanced of its kind in New York State. Residents can rest assured that we are keeping a close eye on Town assets, which are the taxpayers’ assets, making it safer for everyone.”
The build-out of the Communication Center was part of a larger project at Town Hall that included emergency electrical power and an independent HVAC System to the Communication Center, Call Center, Emergency Operation Center and Fire Prevention Offices, to allow continuous activity during any incidents. The new center’s “Hiperwall” is comprised of 12 large size high-resolution video screens, with built-in high-tech processors met to operate 24 / 7 and provide a wide variety of image sizes. Currently the majority of the town’s 353 cameras feed into the center. The center will be the hub of interoperability and coordination among all Town Divisions and Departments that are active during a storm or incident, i.e. Highway Department, Parks Department, General Services (Animal Control).
Division of Public Information * Office of the Supervisor
One Independence Hill • Farmingville • NY 11738 • Phone 631-451-6595