MADISON, Wis. -- The Dane County 911 Center's new automated attendant system for handling non-emergency calls is running smoothly, according to the center's director.

John Dejung, 911 Center's communications director, spoke on the system's progress, along with remaining challenges, during a Public Safety Communications Board meeting on Wednesday that gathered local and county officials, including members of the Madison Police Department.

Of the outstanding issues, the center is still waiting on law enforcement to develop a protocol and might be waiting for months longer still.

According to Dejung, since the system went active on Feb. 20, about 22 percent, or 2,700, non-emergency calls were routed through the system. Center officials have argued incorporating the new system gives dispatchers more time to handle higher priority emergency calls.

However, how the system handles calls for law enforcement is still being debated. Dispatchers at the 911 Center have a specific protocol for responding to fire and emergency medical calls. These include particular questions to ask.

The dispatchers are currently using a program called ProQA, but there's still no protocol for law enforcement and it might not be established this year, WISC-TV reported.

Dejung told the board he wasn't pleased by the slow movement.

"This glacial kind of progress that I referred to before, I do not want to wait that long. If I were to try to implement this in 2010, I can't do that with a recommendation that waits until October," he said.

Dejung has asked law enforcement for a final recommendation by May.

However, Madison Police Lt. Carl Strasburg said more time is needed.

"It's different from fire and EMS. Law enforcement (is) more gray. We have to have flexibility," said Strasburg.

He said the current software needs to be compared to other options.

"The concerns with ProQA (are) we're not sure if it's there yet. And until those concerns can be addressed or other products can be looked at, we don't know if that's the best product, best way for us to go," said Strasburg.

Other board member question why it would take until October to finalize a recommendation. One board member, frustrated by the latest delay, said he was concerned and asked why research wasn't done earlier.

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said that she thinks waiting another half-year for the recommendation will harm public safety.

However, police officials said it could have been done earlier if they were part of planning from the start.

"I think this would have moved along a lot faster if law enforcement was involved and hopefully, on board before now. I think that could have happened if, from the beginning of this idea, that law enforcement be brought in." said Strasburg.

The end result of Wednesday's board meeting was an 8-4 vote in favor of a law enforcement protocol recommendation by October at the latest. Those opposed to the measure made it very clear that they want something done sooner.