Hawaii County welcomes a new Emergency Call Center in Hilo with a blessing and dedication ceremony held Monday that coincides with National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, April 13 to 19.
The 17,127-square-foot facility on Mohouli Street will operate as a unified call center housing police and fire department dispatch personnel. The center will improve emergency response capabilities and also provide room for growth for both agencies.
“After decades of planning, we now have a state-of-the-art facility where our police and fire dispatchers can work side by side,” said Mayor Kimo Alameda in a release. “This new Emergency Call Center represents a major investment in public safety and, importantly, supports the essential around-the-clock work of these dedicated professionals.”
Construction of the $31 million state-of-the-art facility began in late 2021 and was built by Hensel Phelps Construction. It houses a conference room, briefing room, training room, cafeteria, workout room, locker room, bathrooms and showers, and is designed to withstand earthquakes and hurricanes.
“What better way to honor our hard-working police communications officers during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week than by blessing a brand-new facility that provides our dedicated team of men and women with spacious work zones, top-of-the-line technology, and modern amenities,” said Police Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz.
Seven police and two fire communications officers currently work each shift. With an eye toward future growth, the facility will be able to comfortably fit 13 police communications consoles and nine fire communications consoles.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to see this come to fruition,” said Fire Chief Kazuo Todd. “The combined police and fire dispatch center has been a long time coming, and I am just glad to be able to see it actually completed. I’m looking forward to the future for our departments working together in service of the public and making the best possible outcome happen whenever we can.”
The ceremony included the reading of a proclamation from Mayor Alameda, a certificate from Hawaii County Council Chairman Dr. Holeka Goro Inaba, and the presentation of a plaque from Laura Mallery-Sayre of the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation, which donated gym equipment for the facility. Speakers included Chief Moszkowicz and Chief Todd. Chaplain Renee Godoy, who heads the volunteer Police Chaplain program, conducted the invocation and blessing.
“This October marks 50 years since our current headquarters, including our dispatch center, opened in 1975, and the new facility is a much-anticipated improvement,” said Chief Moszkowicz.
In the works since the early 2000s, the original plans called for separate walled areas for police and fire personnel. But since May 2023, the Police Department had opened room in their dispatch center for fire dispatch staff, who had previously been housed in the Central Fire Station on Kinoole Street.
After working in the same room together for some time, police and fire dispatchers said they wanted to be integrated into a single operational area in the new facility.
“It was a wonderful development because their suggestions were able to be incorporated into the final design, making it truly theirs based on their experience and needs,” said Chief Moszkowicz.
The current dispatch facilities at police headquarters will be repurposed as a back-up dispatch facility.
