Dispatchers

It's nice to have friends in high places. Just ask Westville police dispatchers Rose Smith and Sue Sampson. On Jan. 11, Smith and Sampson watched from a window at the Police Department as five burly Teamsters picketed the Westville Municipal Building on their behalf. The next day the borough mayor and council were put on notice by a Teamsters business agent and attorney. And soon, every entrance and exit to Westville may be blocked by pickets - a move that could halt deliveries to all businesses in the 1-square-mile borough.

At 2:32 a.m. on a Saturday night last month, Diane Bedwell, a Gloucester Township police dispatcher, heard an abrupt radio call. "Get us some help," the voice said. Though the speaker gave neither his identity nor his location, Bedwell instantly recognized the voice as that of patrolman Sal Costa. She also knew that Costa had stopped a speeding car on Sicklerville Road just inside Winslow Township. Bedwell called in backup units to help Costa and a Winslow police officer subdue a drunken driver.

After months of riding through the streets and alleys of Phoenixville and studying borough maps, Chester County police dispatchers are now handling Phoenixville's emergency calls. That means that at any given hour, there is an additional police officer patrolling the borough, now that they are free from dispatching duty. "It's real, real nice," said Cpl. Georgeann Jordan, about the extra street coverage. The switch was made on New Year's Day, four months after the borough's four police dispatchers were laid off to help reduce the borough's deficit.

Representatives of Teamsters Local 676 told Westville's council members last night that the union had filed a labor grievance with the state's employment commission on behalf of the borough's four police dispatchers. The teamsters have picketed the borough hall since Monday after efforts to meet with borough officials failed, they said. Walter J. Bednarczyk, a business agent for the Teamsters, and attorney David A. Fox told council members they had filed a grievance Monday with the state's Public Employment Relations Commission alleging that the borough had failed to negotiate with the dispatchers.

Thomas Crawley isn't the only Philadelphian to torment 911 dispatchers. The beleaguered workers deal with a steady stream of pranksters while performing their daily duties. They each handle about 180 calls per eight-hour shift. Some are calling in fake crimes, like Crawley is accused of doing. Others try to use the emergency line as if it's a private delivery service. Deputy Police Commissioner Charles Brennan still recalls the woman who kept calling 911 during the blizzard several years ago. "She demanded that we send a cop out to buy her cigarettes," he said, laughing.

The township will lay off two of its three dispatchers to cut costs when it switches to the Camden County emergency dispatching service in May, Police Chief Charles Gooley Jr. confirmed yesterday. "Economics and liability pretty much forced us into it. . . . It's a service that the county was already doing," Gooley said. "County tax dollars were already providing for that. " Gooley said the switch would save the township more than $44,000 - $22,000 each for the two dispatchers' salaries, plus savings from not providing their benefits.

A union will appeal the layoffs of seven police dispatchers in Winslow Township, a union official said. The May 5 decision by the township committee will be appealed to the New Jersey Department of Personnel, said Richard M. Riggs, president of Camden County Council 10 of the New Jersey Civil Service Association. "We will appeal the good-faith aspects of the layoffs, whether they are doing this to save money," Riggs said. Michele McAdams, a dispatcher, was happy to hear of the appeal.

Police officers in Chester County have been placed in compromising and sometimes life-threatening situations because some of Chester County's police radio dispatchers routinely mishandle calls, officials of the county Fraternal Order of Police charged last week. FOP president John R. Bailey, a Tredyffrin Township detective, said that during the last two years many police departments throughout the county have complained to the Department of Emergency Services, which operates the countywide police radio network, but have seen no improvement in the way calls are being handled.

The communications center, on Egg Harbor Road, handles requests for firefighters and EMS services for 37 county towns and police services for 32 towns, Keashen said. Other employees remained in the center and dispatchers returned to the building in about an hour, he said. The electrical problem in the server room occurred shortly before 1 p.m. and did not cause a fire, Keashen said. Employees went through a drill in March that simulated a similar scenario, he said. Contact Darran Simon at 856-779-3829 or dsimon@phillynews.com.

Duke has played parts of three NCAA tournaments in Philadelphia and has never lost a game. The sixth win came as Sunday night turned into Monday morning, when the second-seeded Blue Devils sealed a 66-50 win over seventh-seeded Creighton in the Midwest Regional at the Wells Fargo Center. Duke advanced to play Michigan State in Indianapolis on Friday. It will be the Blue Demons' fourth Sweet 16 in the last five seasons. It's not often that a Duke game is anticlimactic, but that's how it seemed when the Blue Devils took the court following the frenzy of Florida Gulf Coast's win. And the game featured a different style - a physical, grinding contest of attrition rather than a full-court highlight reel.

It was all so foreign for 15th-seeded Albany: Duke. Philadelphia. The NCAA tournament's bright glare. And, like so many who find themselves in exotic locales, the Great Danes succumbed to a familiar pitfall on Friday - too much hot Curry. Seth Curry, as cool as he was hot, scored 26 points on 10-for-14 shooting, sky-hooking Mason Plumlee added 23 points, and Duke used its typically relentless man-to-man defense to push past gritty but outclassed Albany, 73-61, in its entertaining 2013 NCAA tournament debut at the Wells Fargo Center.

Glenn Robinson III scored 21 points, and Mitch McGary added 13 points and nine rebounds, helping fourth-seeded Michigan (27-7) overcome a rough night for Trey Burke in a 71-56 NCAA tournament victory over 13th-seeded South Dakota State (25-10) on Thursday night in Auburn Hills, Mich. Burke made only two field goals and left the game briefly in the second half after a hard fall under the basket. The star point guard came back after that, but he finished with only six points in the South Regional game.

The 911 calls poured in. Giocondo "Joe" Navek, a disgruntled former Virtua medical resident, had fired several shots through the driver's-side window of Payman Houshmandpour's silver Audi as the victim pulled out of a parking spot at his Voorhees apartment complex in April. Houshmandpour, also a Virtua resident, died at the scene; Navek sped off in a Nissan. At the Camden County communications center in Lindenwold, a dispatcher gave the description of the suspect and the Nissan and the vehicle's direction to Voorhees police.

Santa Claus came early to Cynthia Recarte's Lindenwold home, stacking gifts for her little ones under the tree more than a week ago. Then, hours before Christmas Day, a Grinch stole the presents. But Santa came back to save the day. This time, the jolly one's team wore blue uniforms, not red. The sleighs were motorized, with sirens - no reindeer here. When the Recartes lost more than $10,000 in cash and gifts during the burglary, South Jersey police officers and Camden County dispatchers decided they couldn't let the family's 4-year-old twin girls and 2-year-old son wake up without presents under the tree.

Camden County's ability to accept 911 text messages this summer will lead the state with a technology advance that will better protect residents, officials said. "This is not a replacement to the ability to call. It's another option," said Freeholder Scot McCray. "I think it's going to help every community in Camden County. " Supporters say the text service would be useful to those with speech or hearing problems, or could prove crucial in circumstances - such as a burglary - where individuals are hiding and afraid to speak while seeking help.

Camden County's ability to accept 911 text messages this summer will lead the state with a technology advance that will better protect residents, officials said. "This is not a replacement to the ability to call. It's another option," said Freeholder Scot McCray. "I think it's going to help every community in Camden County. " Supporters say the text service would be useful to those with speech or hearing problems, or could prove crucial in circumstances - such as a burglary - where individuals are hiding and afraid to speak while seeking help.

Otto Porter had 14 points and eight rebounds to lead No. 15 Georgetown (6-1) to a 64-41 victory over Texas (5-3) in the opener of the Jimmy V Classic on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. Holy Family 65, Philadelphia University 62 - Ervin Ezell (Deptford) scored a game-high 19 points as the Tigers (4-4) beat the Rams (5-2) for the first time in program history. Wilmington 74, Chestnut Hill 66 - Mark DiRugeris Jr. (Woodbury) scored 19 points and Seamus Radtke (Father Judge)

Senior Sean Milligan provided two clutch goals Thursday to keep alive Absegami's hopes of a South Jersey Group 4 boys' soccer title. The Braves edged Cherry Hill East, 2-1, in the group semifinals. Milligan scored the winner off a 20-yard free kick. "He's playing at an incredible level right now, and he really has turned it up as of late," Absegami coach Bill Rose said. "He always seems to find a way, and he's a finisher for us. " With 10 minutes left, Milligan was taken down in the penalty area and converted the ensuing penalty kick to tie the game.

I teach at a low-achieving school. Well, I don't see it that way, but the state of Pennsylvania does. Julia deBurgos School, in Kensington, is one of many Philadelphia schools designated as "low-achieving" on a state Department of Education list published last week. The list is based on the 2010-11 state test scores in reading and math — and nothing else. And even though my school made what's defined as "adequate yearly progress" on those tests, there we were on the list. Now, under the new Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit, my students will have the "opportunity" to go to "better" schools.