The dispatch center that handles 911 calls for Downers Grove and Woodridge police could gain expanded access to DuPage County's emergency radio network after a board vote Wednesday, July 8.
The DuPage County Emergency Telephone System Board is scheduled to consider Resolution ETS-R-0062-26, which would grant DU-COMM access to additional talkgroups on the county's interoperable emergency dispatch radio system, known as DEDIR. Built on Motorola's STARCOM21 network, the system allows more than 3,000 police, fire, and EMS personnel across DuPage County to communicate during joint emergency responses.
DU-COMM dispatches for 45 member agencies, including Downers Grove Police under Chief Michael DeVries and Woodridge Police under Chief Tom Stefanson. The center processes roughly 1 million calls and dispatches 700,000 incidents annually, according to DU-COMM's website.
The published agenda does not detail why DU-COMM is seeking the expanded talkgroup access or which specific talkgroups are involved.
Hinsdale PD body-camera link
A second resolution on the July 8 agenda, ETS-R-0063-26, would approve a memorandum of understanding between the ETSB and Hinsdale Police Department for a CAD interface connecting to Axon Auto-Tagging. The technology pulls call-for-service data from a department's computer-aided dispatch system and automatically tags body-camera footage and digital evidence with incident IDs, locations, and categories.
Axon, the body-camera manufacturer, claims the integration saves up to $200 per officer per month by eliminating manual data entry. That figure is a vendor estimate, not an independent finding.
Hinsdale Police, led by Chief Brian King, is already a DU-COMM member agency.
Other agenda items
The board, chaired by DuPage County Board member Greg Schwarze, will also vote on:
- Selling surplus inventory to the Deer Park Emergency Management Agency for $10,000 (Resolution ETS-R-0061-26)
- Approving language for Policy 911-005.6, governing use of the emergency button on the DEDIR radio system (Resolution ETS-R-0012-26)
- Payment of claims totaling $227,061.29
The agenda also includes an FY27 budget discussion.
What's next
The ETSB meets at 9 a.m. Wednesday, July 8, at the DuPage County Administration Building, 421 N. County Farm Road in Wheaton. The meeting is also accessible via Zoom (Meeting ID: 886 6759 6405, Passcode: 071027). Vote results will be available after the meeting concludes. The board's next scheduled meeting is Wednesday, August 12.
