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Cincinnati Council Okays Additional Money For Emergency Communications Center

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Cincinnati Police Department

The full Cincinnati Council will vote Wednesday to send an additional $1.4 million to the city's emergency communications center.  

A joint council committee approved the ordinance Tuesday.  
For this fiscal year, the ordinance budgets $454,000. Another $969,000 will be used during the next fiscal year which starts July 1.

The funds will pay for additional personnel, more technology upgrades, and things to boost staff morale like new desk chairs and fresh paint in the facility.

The $1.4 million is in addition to $800,000 that was allocated in the fall of 2017 for an additional 11 call-takers and technology upgrades.

Emergency Center Director, Police Captain James Gramke, says some employees will now focus on keeping call-takers and dispatchers.

"This gives us five people that are going to work full-time on recruiting, hiring, training and retaining," Gramke said. "Because that is what we need, we need to always keep folks in the pipeline. We need to keep people ready to apply for the job, we need to keep people applying for the job, we need to keep leadership."

The center has been under scrutiny after 16-year-old Kyle Plush died on April 10 while trapped in his van even though he called 911 twice.

An internal police report on his death could be presented to a council committee Monday if it's ready. The police chief also plans to share the details with the Plush family before it's released to the public.

Jay Hanselman brings more than 10 years experience as a news anchor and reporter to 91.7 WVXU. He came to WVXU from WNKU, where he hosted the local broadcast of All Things Considered. Hanselman has been recognized for his reporting by the Kentucky AP Broadcasters Association, the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, and the Ohio AP Broadcasters.