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PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS
(PLANO 9-1-1)

The Public Safety Communications (PSC) department was formed in 1991, when separate dispatch operations for the Fire and Police departments were combined with the emerging need to provide a single 9‐1‐1 answering point.From a consolidated location in the lower level of Plano’s Municipal Center, all calls for servicefrom the community are answered and referred to dispatchers working at adjacent dispatch consoles. This single point of contact provides for a high degree of coordinated response to emergencies, resulting in the quickest, most accurate dispatching of incidents possible. While citizens of Plano have enjoyed the benefit of having a single center for all police, EMS, and fire rescue needs for many years.

PSC has established an Emergency Dispatch Center in a remote location. Radios, phones and dispatch related equipment have been pre‐deployed in the event of an emergency. If it becomes necessary to evacuate the municipal Center, PSC can relocate to the Back‐up Facility and begin operations as needed.

RECEIVING 9-1-1 CALLS

Of the 170,000 9‐1‐1 calls answered in Fiscal Year 2006-2007, 75% of them were from cellular callers, placing a greater demand on calltakers to be able to locate the caller. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a growing telecommunications service utilized in both residential and commercial settings.

Once the telephone call is answered, communications personnel ask callers to verify their address and telephone numbers as well as the reason for their call. Once the information is entered onto their computer screen, the information is then sent to either a police or fire/EMS dispatcher who will assign units to the call and send the appropriate emergency personnel to the caller.

DISPATCHING POLICE/FIRE CALLS

Positions within Public Safety Communications require extensive initial and ongoing training of all personnel. The department dispatches all Police, Fire and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) apparatus within the City of Plano. In addition, Plano Public Safety Communications also dispatches EMS calls for the Cities of Lucas and Parker.

ADMINISTRATIVE & TECHNICAL SUPPORT SERVICES

Operating such a busy facility is no small task. Supporting the Telecommunicators and the functions of the department are a staff of professionals who manage the administrative functions and technical operations of the City's multi-million dollar communications system.

Computer Room Retention of employees is of vital importance to PSC and the services that we provide. Efforts are ongoing to continue the reduction of personnel leaving the department but some degree of attrition is inevitable.