State cops have problems consolidating offices - Capitol Fax.com

* Illinois had 21 State Police call centers before the governor consolidated those offices down to just four last week. There were problems Monday at one of those call centers?

Gov. Pat Quinn?s Illinois State Police communications consolidation reportedly hit a snag Monday when phone lines were ?up and down? all day in Du Quoin.

The chief steward for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees telecommunications workers at Du Quoin, Cathy Bencini, said calls were dropped throughout the day, but the state was working to fix the problem by the afternoon. [?]

Bencini also said the phone system did not have working caller-ID and lacked a global positioning satellite system, issues she said the state was going to address.

* And this is not good news, either, if true?

Bencini said the move left the call center short-staffed, with 16 telecommunications employees doing the work of 27 dispatchers.

Bencini said remaining Du Quoin dispatchers were ?being forced to work 12-hour shifts? with overtime to make up for the lack of manpower.

* Meanwhile, in other state restructuring news?

Several legislators are criticizing Gov. Pat Quinn?s administration for considering moving some prison inmates out of Illinois. Democratic state Rep. Brandon Phelps of Harrisburg says consideration of the plan indicates the Corrections Department does not believe Illinois? surviving prisons will be able to handle all the inmates moved from Tamms Correctional Center if it closes.

Quinn has said he wants to close Tamms and the all-female Dwight Correctional Center on Aug. 31 to save an estimated $48 million. Documents obtained by the Journal Gazette & Times Courier show at least nine inmates could be sent to prisons outside of Illinois in exchange for prisoners from that state.

* And?

The Lincoln and Logan Correctional Centers could face massive restructuring when the Dwight state prison for women closes late next month.

Preliminary reports from Gov. Pat Quinn?s office indicate that the Lincoln and Logan prisons, both at Lincoln, would essentially flip-flop inmate populations, with Logan also absorbing 980 women inmates from Dwight.

Logan now holds about 2,000 men, while Lincoln?s population is in the neighborhood of 1,000 women.

The plan is to transfer the 1,000 female inmates now housed in the Lincoln center, plus the women from Dwight, into the larger facility currently occupied by men at Logan.

But there?s a real problem ahead?

Plans have not been disclosed for the extra 1,000 male inmates who theoretically wouldn?t fit into the Lincoln Correctional Center, although rumors are circulating that some prisoners could be released and monitored electronically.

* More budget stuff?

* Budget cuts won?t work if they aren?t researched

* Federal money to help Illinois to change troubling youth prison statistic

* Some bars worry lack of video poker could hurt business - Schaumburg opted out of video gambling but neighboring Hoffman Estates is allowing it.

* Some south suburbs see upside to video gaming while many opt out

Source: http://capitolfax.com/2012/07/25/state-cops-have-problems-consolidating-offices/

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