Northwest Central Dispatch System management and the union Metropolitan Alliance of Police (MAP Chapter 540) reached a tentative agreement about 1:30 a.m. Thursday.
Mediation with an arbitrator lasted about 12 hours starting at 2 p.m. If not for the agreement, dispatchers and telecommunication operators could have gone on strike as early as 5:00 p.m. Thursday.
Northwest Central Dispatch System handles communications for police and fire departments from Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, Inverness, Mount Prospect, Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Schaumburg, and Streamwood. The center also handles police communications for Prospect Heights police department. Prospect Heights Fire Protection District communications area mainly served by RED Center, located in Northbrook.
The coverage area includes 486,182 citizens that reside in the communities listed above. NWCDS answers about 274,000 emergency telephone call per year and dispatches about 222,000 police calls and 52,000 fire/EMS calls. The 911 center also serves as radio dispatch for MABAS Division I fire departments, dispatching pre-planned assignments and providing emergency radio communications for disasters and major incidents which require mutual aid for fire services from Arlington Heights, Des Plaines, Elk Grove Township, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, Itasca, Mount Prospect, Palatine, Palatine Rural, Rolling Meadows, Rosemont, Schaumburg, Streamwood, Wheeling, and Wood Dale.