Excerpts from wrex.com:

There are two 911 call centers in Winnebago County, one for the county and one for the City of Rockford. 

The city and county continue to look at ways to be more efficient and collaborative, and one thing that is moving forward is consolidation of the two call centers. 

The fire department says it’s focused on technology first, and that could take as long as 18 months, but if the two centers combine, Fire Chief Derek Bergsten says it’s the citizens who benefit. 

“The biggest thing that citizens would have is they would have one answering point. They make one phone call, all the 911 calls come to one location, you don’t have to be transferred, it will be handled more efficiently and quickly, and then have less chance for errors,” said Bergsten.

Bergsten says there would still be the same number of dispatchers, so it’s not necessarily a cost-saving measure. 

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