It comes down to service, timeliness and familiarity for Sedona Police Chief Ray Cota.

In February, the Sedona Fire District Governing Board voted to close its Regional Communications Center and enter into an agreement with the city of Cottonwood to provide dispatching services to SFD through its police department. SFD has set a target date of September for closure of its center and initiation of dispatching services to Cottonwood.

As a result of this planned change, discussions have been held between Cota and SFD Chief Kris Kazian as to how the change would impact the answering of 911 calls received from within the city of Sedona. Since the inception of the police department in 1988, all 911 calls originating from within the jurisdictional boundaries of the SFD were sent to its dispatch center in Uptown. Sedona is the only city in Arizona in which 911 calls go first to its fire service rather than its police department.

Because of concerns with the timeliness of transferring these calls and more importantly, the familiarity of its dispatchers with the Sedona area, Cota is requesting that the Sedona Police Department become its own Public Safety Answering Point. That request was made during a presentation at the Tuesday, April 28, Sedona City Council meeting.

Cota’s presentation was for information and direction to staff so no action was taken. However, the council was in favor of Sedona becoming its own PSAP and will vote at a later date.

To read the full story, see the Friday, May 1, edition of the Sedona Red Rock News.