Where is 911 call center

Turn off Animations. Turn on Animations. It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Please turn on JavaScript and try again. Sites Covered. One of the most common complaints from callers comes from how many questions they had to answer. It's a perception thing. In the mind of the caller, they already know what the emergency is. They want to tell the call taker and would love it if the call taker would just listen. The problem is: not everyone communicates the same.

Some folks are better at getting their points across than others. Call takers are trained to ask specific questions in a predetermined order, using the answers as a roadmap on which question to ask next. Ultimately as a result of asking the right questions and getting clear answers, the call taker will be able to send the right type of resources fire engines, police, emergency medical services, whatever and provide the right kind of instructions to the caller. The first and most important tip for calling is: Don't hang up.

When the call taker is ready to disconnect the call, he or she will tell you. Stay as calm as can be and listen carefully to the questions. If the call taker doesn't think you heard correctly, he or she is likely to repeat the question. If you hear the same question more than once, take a breath and answer it as clearly as possible.

Don't get frustrated. The more accurately the call taker gets the information the more quickly you will get help. One last thing to remember about PSAPs: these are not usually one-person operations.

In most places around the country, the folks who answer calls are not the same folks who are talking to emergency responders. When you call and start answering questions, you will most likely hear computer keys clicking as you answer the questions.

That's the call taker writing down everything you say. The dispatcher can read all those comments and will relay them to emergency responders. In some systems, responders will be able to read those call notes directly through computers in their emergency vehicles. In the past, the dispatcher was a one-man shop. He took the calls over a phone propped on his shoulder.

The information was written on a punch card, similar to what some businesses use for clocking employees in and out. He put the card in the punch clock to record the times. He sent the calls out over the radio and kept track by hand of where all the ambulances were and what they were doing. Today we've come a long way.

Now the center has dozens of people answering multiple lines. Everyone is wearing a headset and sitting at work stations with multiple computer screens. Geoff Solberg. Assistant Director of Public Safety Systems. Tim Martindale. A medical emergency which needs an ambulance, a fire, or any incident which has injuries or unknown injuries.

Some examples of when to call include:. A: Anything that has occurred prior like yesterday, days before, or even weeks before! Please do not call to ask directions or in any other non-emergency situation.

What happens when I call accidentally and hang up? A: The dispatcher will try to call you back.