Several state legislators will try again this year to undo the controversial consolidation of state police emergency dispatchers, a move that transfers 911 calls in Montville's Troop E area to Tolland.

State Rep. Linda Orange, D-Colchester, whose town hosts State Police Troop K, has proposed a bill undoing the changes that started in 2012 under former Commissioner Rueben Bradford and Col. Danny Stebbins. Under the plan to reduce the number of state police dispatch centers from 12 to five, dispatchers from three different troops in the western part of the state were first moved to one location in Litchfield. Last year, dispatchers from Troop D in Danielson, Troop E in Montville and Troop K in Colchester were all moved to a new facility at Troop C in Tolland. Orange said complaints immediately started when the decision was made to close barracks to the public in the overnight hours. The change was undone by Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection Dora Schriro, who also halted any additional consolidations while she conducted a study. "She's taken steps in an attempt to make this whole thing more palatable to both state and local officials as well as the citizens," Orange said of Schriro. The conversation about the consolidation needs to be kept alive, Orange said, because of continuing complaints about slower trooper response time, reports of serious amounts of overtime and a call- taking system that appears to be flawed."Dispatchers are not at all at fault. It's the new system," Orange said. Orange represents the 48th Assembly District and the towns of Colchester, Lebanon, Mansfield and Windham. Co-sponsors to the bill include state Rep. Mary G. Fritz in the 90th District and state Rep. Melissa H. Ziobron in the 34th District. In testimony on the bill before the joint committee on Public Safety and Security earlier this month, state police union President Andrew Matthews said that prior to the consolidation each troop has two experienced people answering 911 calls who could immediately dispatch a trooper."Now, newly hired and inexperienced dispatchers are not familiar with the Troop areas they are responsible for" and there are separate call takers who only answer calls and input information into a computer," Matthews said in his written testimony. The system causes delays since call takers are not capable of dispatching new information directly to troopers during an emergency, he said. Also, Matthews added, troopers are spending more time transporting prisoners outside their patrol area because of the lack of manpower in the troops. Connecticut Council of Small Towns Executive Director Betsy Gara also submitted written testimony in support of the bill, citing several instances in which inexperience appeared to delay response time for a trooper. In one case, Gara said, it took a trooper from Troop D in Danielson 41 minutes to respond to a domestic dispute because they were dispatched to Highland Road instead of Highland Drive. "Response times have suffered due to lack of experience and knowledge of the area and because there are now call-takers relaying information to dispatchers instead of immediately dispatching services," she wrote.Schriro's study and evaluation of the system is ongoing. g.smith@theday.comTwitter: @SmittyDay