LIVERMORE FALLS – Under the law governing the 911 enhanced emergency call system, only the police chief here will be able to listen to two calls from people who complained they were handled inefficiently by Androscoggin County dispatchers.

Sheriff Guy Desjardins plans meet with police Chief Ernest Steward Jr. prior to the next selectmen’s meeting on Monday, Feb. 4, and will then meet with selectmen to answer questions, Desjardins said Thursday.

He and Steward plan to have reports ready then.

Desjardins defended his dispatchers’ handling of the calls in question after listening to the audio tapes of two separate incidents earlier this month.

In one case, the time of arrival of an ambulance is in dispute. Desjardins says a person can be heard on the tape answering a dispatcher’s question affirmatively when asked if the ambulance had arrived. That response time was within 4 minutes.

The person who made the complaint, Richard Korhonen of Livermore Falls, said it took more than 15 minutes and he said the dispatcher was not listening.

Korhonen was one of two people to voice concern to selectmen during a board meeting on Jan. 22.

Selectmen asked Town Manager Martin Puckett and Steward to look into the complaints.

Desjardins initially thought he could make copies of the calls and bring them up so Puckett and Steward could listen to them.

He later learned that the audio recordings are not considered public in Maine, Desjardins said. That includes any medical information about a person receiving emergency services through the E911 system

However, Steward, as a law enforcement officer, would be able to review the calls in question with the sheriff, Desjardins said.

The law, Title 25, Section 2929, lists circumstances where the information can be heard, which are:

• A public safety answering point may disclose confidential information to public or private safety agencies and emergency responders for purposes of processing emergency calls and providing emergency services.

• A public safety answering point may disclose confidential information to a law enforcement officer or law enforcement agency for the purpose of criminal investigations related to an E911 call.

• A public safety answering point may disclose confidential information to designees of the bureau director for the purpose of system maintenance and quality control.

• The bureau director may disclose confidential information to public safety answering points, public or private safety agencies, emergency responders or others within the E911 system to the extent necessary to implement and manage the E911 system.

Stephan Bunker of Farmington, the operations manager for Maine Emergency Services Communication Bureau, who oversees training and quality control at the public answering services points, said before the E911 system was adopted, legislators wanted to keep the identification of the caller and other information private so that someone in an emergency situation would not have their most vulnerable moments replayed in public.

Bunker said the system is equipped with functions that allows for a good analysis of the call and how it was handled.