Scarborough Police Department
Dispatch
Mission Statement: The Communications Center’s goal is to provide accurate and rapid processing of emergency and routine calls for service and reliable, proficient support for field unit operations. Our mission is to provide superior services, which enhance quality of life, foster positive business relations, and maintain a safe environment in an atmosphere of fairness and trust.
Police
Frequency: 160.125
Fire
Frequency: 154.130
The Scarborough Public Safety Dispatchers provide 24-hour dispatch service to many town departments. The dispatcher’s main priority is to the Police, Fire, and Rescue Departments, where they dispatch, via computer and radio, emergency and non-emergency calls. The dispatcher is also responsible for answering many phone lines that ring into the dispatch center. These include emergency and non-emergency calls for Public Assistance, Animal Control, Marine Resources, Beach Patrol, Parking Control, Detectives, Patrol Staff, Administration, and Records. The dispatchers handle nearly 25,000 dispatched calls per year for Police, Fire, and Rescue. That averages to 68 incidents per day, normally requiring some type of public safety response.
The Communications Center is staffed with at least 2 dispatchers at all times. The staff includes 9 full time dispatchers, 2 of which are “Lead Dispatchers” who oversee day to day supervisory tasks.
Each dispatcher must maintain Enhanced 911 certification, a database phone system which displays the callers address, phone number, and name. This provides the dispatcher with this life saving information immediately, on a computer screen, saving a great deal of time, when every second counts.
They must also maintain National Emergency Medical Dispatch Certification. EMD training gives the dispatcher ability to aid those faced with a medical emergency, by giving life saving phone aid to callers, before responders arrive on scene. Since the inception of the Emergency Medical Dispatch program in Scarborough, we are proud to say the program has aided and saved many lives.
Each dispatcher maintains Certified Terminal Operator certification, which enables them to operate sophisticated law enforcement computer programs, as well as the ability to access law enforcement nationwide.
The
Scarborough Public Safety Communications Center operates it’s emergency call
system on a computer aided dispatch system, where all calls are entered and
updated through a computerized dispatching system.
Police cars, Rescues,
and Fire Trucks are monitored on large computer status screens, which enable the
dispatcher to view where each unit is, and what they are doing.
Public Safety dispatchers are required to be very multi-task oriented,
paying attention to emergency phones, police-fire-rescue radios, lobby walk-ins,
business phones, as well as performing the day to day tasks to keep the
operation running.
The job of a Public Safety Dispatcher is a very busy one, and they are
sometimes referred to as the “heart” of the operation.
Most all contact with Public Safety of any kind passes through a
dispatcher, before being handled by any other entity.
The dispatchers at Scarborough Public Safety are highly trained
professionals that will be there when you need them, no problem is too
big or
small.
View Dispatch Incident Statistics for: