Lansing Police Department to Overhaul 911 Center Workstations

The Lansing Police Department is launching a comprehensive overhaul of its 911 center, an infrastructure project designed to bring the dispatch hub into the modern era after more than two decades of technological stagnation.

Brian Weis, the supervisor of Communications and Records, announced the plans during a Neighborhood Watch meeting on Nov. 5. The department’s dispatch center, which has not seen a major reconfiguration since 2002, is struggling to keep pace with the demands of modern emergency response. For the dispatchers—known as telecommunicators (TCs)—the current setup has become a bottleneck to efficiency.

The primary issue lies in the physical and digital footprint required to manage emergency calls today. When the current center was designed, dispatchers managed their workflows with three computer monitors.

Over the last 20-plus years, that number has swelled to seven monitors per station. This expansion has forced staff to share equipment and physically move between stations during active calls, a setup that Weis described as no longer adequate for the center’s needs.

“The workstations are no longer adequate for the needs of the center,” Weis told The Lansing Journal. The planned renovation aims to eliminate these inefficiencies by installing desks large enough to house all seven monitors. These new consoles will be mounted on platforms equipped with grab bars, allowing staff to slide their workspace forward or back, and will feature adjustable heights to accommodate both sitting and standing positions.

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The ergonomic improvements are intended to mitigate the physical toll of long-duration shifts. “They work 10-, 12-, 16-hour shifts, and that’s a long time to be sitting the whole time,” Weis said. Each station will also be outfitted with independent heating and cooling controls and dedicated equipment, ensuring that dispatchers no longer need to leave their desks to access shared systems.

While the overhaul promises long-term stability, the transition period presents immediate logistical challenges. Dispatch operations are temporarily relocating to a classroom space while crews reconfigure the main center. Weis said that this temporary setup will be a scaled-down version of the standard environment, but the department has implemented a rigorous planning process to ensure that service levels remain uninterrupted.

“Our dispatchers are going to be working from temporary workstations, meaning they’re going to have like a scaled-down version of what they normally have,” Weis said. “But at the end of the day, we must provide the same level of service, and we can’t drop the ball.”

The modernization effort coincides with a push to increase the department's staffing levels. Sgt. Mike Lindemulder confirmed during the same meeting that the Lansing Police Department is currently seeking to hire two additional 911 dispatchers. Unlike many neighboring municipalities that have opted to move toward regional, consolidated dispatch centers, Lansing intends to maintain its independent operation.

Weis defended the decision to keep the center local, arguing that a dedicated facility allows for a more granular understanding of the community’s specific needs. “We have one focus, and it’s not what’s going on in Calumet City and Lynwood and three other towns,” Weis said. “It’s what is going on in Lansing.”