The Cuming County Dispatch Center answers calls and dispatches for Bancroft, Beemer, West Point and Wisner Police Departments, Fire Departments and Rescue Squads. The Dispatch Center also dispatches for the Cuming County Sheriff’s Office and answers their phone after hours. The Dispatch Center is separate from all of these departments.
The Head Dispatcher meets with the 911 Advisory Board once a month to keep them apprised of the operations of the E911 Dispatch Center. This Board consists of a representative from Bancroft, Beemer, West Point, Wisner and a County Supervisor. The County Supervisor member is the liaison between the E911 Advisory Board and the County Board of Supervisors.
The Dispatch Center is Enhanced 911 with Phase II capability. The Dispatch Center is always keeping pace with technology to be ready for Next Generation 911. Enhanced 911 means that when someone in Cuming County dials 911 from a land line phone, the computer screen in the Dispatch Center will show the phone number, the name of the party that number is registered to and their address. The computer locates on a map the correct Police, Fire and Rescue Department for that address.
Phase II means that when someone calls 911 from a cell phone and the call is received in the Cuming County Dispatch Center the computer screen will show the phone number of the cell phone, the cell phone company and what phase the call is. It the call is Phase I, it will show the location of the tower the call is coming from. Cuming County Dispatch Center has the ability to rebid the 911 cell phone call and see if Phase II information is available.
Phase II information shows all of the same information as Phase I, but it will also show the approximate location of the caller at that time. Next Generation 911 is the ability for people to text 911 and send video to 911, however, this technology is not available yet. The Dispatcher still verifies the information on all 911 calls with the caller to know where the caller is so help can be sent to them as quickly as possible.
Most of the time there is only one Dispatcher on duty at a time in Cuming County.
The Dispatcher is responsible for:
- answering the phone
- dispatching the appropriate agency
- performing Emergency Medical Dispatch for some 911 calls
- checking license plates, driver’s histories, criminal histories for officers
- entering warrants in the Law Enforcement computer system
- confirming warrants if another county picks up someone on a Cuming County warrant
- monitoring all radio traffic
- monitoring the weather
- anything else that may come up in the course of a shift