1. Rutherford county Sheriff’s Office
911 COMMUNICATIONS

2. Welcome 2015 Citizens Police Academy
Lt. Tammy Aldridge, 911 Director
F/Sgt. Roman Scruggs, Assistant 911 Director
Have a Great Day!
Ask at any time, even if it’s about something I haven’t talked about.
Housekeeping – Restrooms are out and around the corner. Don’t use the water fountains. We have bottled water in the back.

3. Purpose and Goals To give you an overall look at the 9-1-1
To give you a better understanding of what Rutherford County Communications does for Rutherford County.
Discuss why we do things the way we do them 3

4. Agencies Served Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office
Rutherfordton Police Department
Spindale Police Department
Lake Lure Police Department
Forest City Police Department

5. EMS and RESCUE Rutherford County EMS Hickory Nut Gorge
Rutherford County Rescue

6. Fire Departments Bills Creek * Hudlow * Bostic * Lake Lure *
Cherry Mtn * Rutherfordton *
Chimney Rock Sandy Mush
Cliffside * SDO
Ellenboro * Shingle Hollow *
Fairfield * Spindale
Forest City * Union Mills
Green Hill *
We dispatch for 17 Fire Departments, 12 of which are first responders.

7. A Little More Information
Population served – Approximately 68,500
Area covered square miles
Calls (2013)
170,510 inbound/outbound calls
Total Calls for Service 91,970
41,096 of those came in on 911
9-1-1 Staff
18 Full Time
Director
Assistant Director
16 Telecommunicator's
4 of which are Shift Supervisors
5 of which serve as CTO’s
7 Part Time Staff
Our overall calls for service have increased to 4,424 since 2012.

8. Our Shifts Day Shift 3-4 people minimum
6:00am-6:00pm
One Telecommunicator works 9:00 am-9:00 pm
Evening Shift people minimum
6:00pm-6:00am
One Telecommunicator works 3:00 pm-3:00am
We have 5 TC’s from 3:00pm-9:00pm
We drop to 3 TC’s at 3:00am-9:00am

9. Who we are & What we do
We are the first-first responders. The first on the scene when we answer the call
This initiates a chain of events that can be simple or complex depending on the nature of the incident
What we do are the behind the scenes actions; initiating, monitoring, updating, etc…
BASICALLY WHAT A TELECOMMUNICATOR OR DISPATCHER IS, IS A FIRST-FIRST RESPONDER… WHEN SOMEONE CALLS IN WE ARE THE FIRST PEOPLE GETTING INFORMATION ABOUT WHATEVER INCIDENT IS TAKING PLACE.
3RD BULLET=RADIO COMMUNICATIONS WITH OFFICERS—USE TRAFFIC STOPS AS AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT WE DO AS FAR AS BEHIND THE SCENES-RUNNING PLATES, PEOPLE, THINGS, ETC... We are handling all radio traffic for PD and FD/EMS. Changing and monitoring unit status.

10. What we do What are the behind the scenes actions?
Radio Communications
Dispatch – Update – and - Relay
Unit Status
Assign - Update – Send back up
DCI/DMV/NCIC/NC Aware
Warrants/Wanted Persons– Record Checks - Stolen items – OLN and License Plate inquiry
Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD)
Medical Instructions
Phone Calls/Notifications
Tows – Utilities – Other agencies
Accessing other independent operations and systems
I call it “behind the scenes” b/c that may be how it is viewed from an officers point of view or a “callers” point of view. But to us it’s our job and we are most defnitely not behind the scenes when you look at the progression of an incident.

11. How 911 Works Your location determines where the call goes
Tower Site
We get the call
Process the call
Transfer if needed
Refer if needed
The appropriate response is sent based on information provided by caller
Now that you have all been educated
Different ways refers to 911 within city limits and outside city limits.
Got a cell call from a guy in Gary Indiana reporting

12. What We Need
Location!
Address
Business Name
Intersection
Hundred Block
Location is the single most important piece of information we can get
Know where you are at!!

13. What We Need What? Accident, fire, weapons, suspicious vehicle
When? Few hours ago, yesterday, just now!
Who? Stranger, mom, dad, sister, brother, etc…
Your name
Your callback number
How? Fell? With a knife? on purpose? On accident?
Other Essential Information?
Weapons? Intoxicated?
Questioning does not slow down the response time. Those questions are required by policy, but more importantly get info to people who need it.
Emergencies - While the call taker is asking questions the dispatcher already has the call info and is dispatching it.
Call back number in case we lose contact.

14. Why so many questions? Responder Safety EMD Painting the Picture
Proper Record Keeping
We are required by Directive to ask
We ask questions in order to paint a picture for the responding units be they pd or fd/EMS. The clearer the picture the better prepared they are. Also safer for responders and citizens. We do not want our field units going in “blind”.
Provide EMD cards to pass around classroom

15. Cellular vs. Landline 911 Landline What we need Hardwired
Location/Address
Call back number
Name
Responsible Agency or Agencies
We still need to confirm this info. The location/TX # can be wrong and we don’t know you’re the person who’s name is on the screen.
We are required to ask and confirm address and city for every call – This helps ensure we are sending help to the correct location.

16. Cellular 911 Phase 0 Phase I Phase II-February 2006
GPS
Tower Triangulation
75 % of 911 calls are from cellular phones.
Describe Phase 0, I, II
Use the whiteboard to illustrate Phase II triangulation

17. Cellular 911 This is not an exact science Know your location!
FCC requires that plotting be accurate between meters depending on technology being used
GPS – Global Positioning Satellite
Tower - Triangulation
50 meters is about 164 feet
300 meters is almost 1000 feet
Know your location!
It is estimated about 70% of 911 calls are placed from wireless phones and that percentage is growing.

18. Cell Towers

20. Questions?
Anything you want to discuss?

21. Now we are ready to visit where all of this takes place “9-1-1”
Now let’s visit
The Radio Room