The Minnesota State Patrol has consolidated dispatch center operations.
The process is almost complete, and when it's all said and done, there will be just two dispatch centers rather than 11.
"This has been in the planning stages for quite some time," said Lt. Eric Roeske of the Minnesota State Patrol. "For officer safety, better service and fiscally made more sense to consolidate."
Authorities say troopers in the Mankato area receive dispatch calls from Rochester. The other dispatch center is located in Roseville. Officials say Mankato state patrol started dispatching entirely out of Rochester back on December 7th, 2011.
Officials say the move will save the state patrol money, while at the same time providing better service. Even though the State Patrol consolidated dispatch center operations, authorities say the move is not impacting response times adversely.
"There's no delay because of the consolidation," said Roeske.
With the Virginia dispatch center slated to be consolidated in the near future, authorities say the reduction plan has worked smoothly thus far.
"By all accounts we're happy with how things are going," said Roeske.
The state patrol says savings from the consolidation plan are projected at one million dollars initially.
Authorities say affected employees were given the opportunity to relocate to the remaining dispatch centers. However, some employees decided to seek other work.
