By sheer volume of calls alone, the Butler Police Department shoulders responsibilities unique to municipal police departments in this county. In 2006, city police desk sergeants handled about 60,000 calls, 12,000 of which required that officers be sent to an incident.

The Butler County commissioners need a clear picture of that major volume of responsibility as they prepare to address the issue of the city switching all dispatch responsibilities to the county communications (911) center and putting the current desk sergeants on patrol duty. Today's scheduled meeting of city and county officials to discuss the change is unlikely to achieve that full knowledge and understanding of everything that is at stake.

For that reason, county officials need face-to-face discussions not only with the city's political leaders, but also with top police officials, the desk sergeants, police union representatives, and possibly even with some of the rank-and-file officers.

The discussion must focus on the past, present and projected future; the number of incidents to which city police officers responded from 2004 to 2006 increased more than 23 percent. The county should be provided with figures on how this year is shaping up in terms of calls to police headquarters and how many of those incidents required an officer on the scene.

The 23-percent figure was one of the findings of a county-initiated study carried out after a meeting between city and county officials last November.

That study also found that the 911 center's call volume increased by more than 53 percent from 1996 to 2003 and that the 911 center answers more than 120,000 calls annually.

One of the issues surrounding this afternoon's meeting was whether the session should be officially advertised by way of a legal notice. That was a relevant question in the mind of Commissioner Jim Kennedy, and it was a legitimate concern.

The public, including county taxpayers and other emergency personnel, should be notified and encouraged to attend a meeting of such importance; the change has the potential to impact everyone who lives in the city or comes to the city for whatever purpose.

If additional meetings on the issue are held — and they would be in both the city and county's best interests — involvement by the public should be viewed as a plus.

The issue cannot be regarded as irrelevant to people living outside the city. The study conducted in the aftermath of the November meeting says that if city police calls become the responsibility of the 911 center, the county might have to hire at least five additional full-time, or part-time equivalent, dispatchers and that additional communications equipment would have to be bought.

While those additions would no doubt be considered the most desirable, all considered, it is to be presumed that the 911 center might be able to handle the added dispatch load with fewer additonal personnel and less additional equipment than the study anticipates.

Because of the magnitude of the proposed change, officials have considerable work to do. And, close communication between the city and county is important.

Based on that communication, they have an obligation to keep the public fully apprised of developments and listen to any comments and concerns that the public puts forth, including about whether the change should take place at all.

The city's suggestion about not advertising today's meeting was not the best way to get the city police dispatching change discussion started. That suggestion was not in the public's best interests.

The dispatching change, if it does in fact occur, isn't likely to be completed as quickly and easily as some city leaders might now be anticipating, even if no glitches are encountered along the way.