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method during the time period of 1500 to 2300, shows 71.0 new events arriving during the busier hour. A methodology, developed many years ago by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the University of California at Berkely (JPL) under a Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) contract, that has been upgraded over time and has proven to be accurate, indicates that for the dispatch operation in use for law enforcement in Anoka County, a dispatcher and radio channel are busy when 33 new events arrive in an hour. In the 1500 to 2300 timeframe each day there are two channels and two dispatchers available to serve law enforcement needs in Anoka County and they would become saturated when more than 66 new events arrive in an hour. This 66 new event per hour figure assumes that the dispatching is evenly balanced between the two dispatch operators and that the dispatch operators only serve people in the field for dispatching functions and do not provide response to information inquiries and do not answer inbound 9-1-1 telephone calls. Since it is impossible to keep some extraneous activities out of dispatcher involvement and since it is impossible to exactly balance load, the actual load per dispatcher is somewhat less than 33; perhaps in the neighborhood of 30 new events (60 new events for two dispatchers). Since busier hour shows in 1999 a likelihood of 71 new events arriving during busier hour, the analytical analysis supports the empirical data provided by law enforcement questionnaire responders indicating that there is channel congestion. The congestion situation is even more serious in the 0700 to 1100 timeframe. During that time, the mean plus three standard deviation figure indicates that during busier hour of July of 1999, 45.9 new events would arrive. During that period of 0700 to 1100, there is only one law enforcement dispatcher on duty in Anoka County. As indicated previously, ifthat dispatcher does nothing but handle dispatch radio operations, the dispatcher can handle up to 33 new events arriving per hour during busier hour before dispatcher and channel saturation occur. Since 46 new events arrive during busier hour in July of 1999, it is clear that the analytical data supports the empirical indications that there is substantial channel congestion during the period 0700 to 1100. Anoka County should immediately begin to have a second dispatcher providing radio operator service to the law enforcement officers on both main dispatch channels 24 hours a day, including the period of 0300 to 1100. In addition, a third law enforcement radio operator dispatcher is required during the time period of 1500 to 2300 every day. In addition to a third dispatcher, a third law enforcement radio dispatch channel is required because when the dispatcher is busy the radio channel is busy and, therefore, a third dispatcher will need a third main dispatch channel. 2.5 BACK-UP RADIO FACILITIES Each of the main radio channels (the south and north main law enforcement channel, the law enforcement information channel and the county-wide fire channel) have back-up radio facilities. With the exception of the south main dispatch channel, however, the coverage performance will be even poorer than the talk-out performance from the primary sites. This should be viewed with concern, particularly because of the volume of radio traffic that needs to be carried. Back-up Ronald Vegemast Engineering, Inc. -17- Report: Anoka County