The Douglas County Communications Center provides dispatch services for law enforcement, fire and EMS (paramedics). Our staff of 8 supervisors and 26 dispatchers is trained and prepared to handle the numerous emergencies that are called into the Center everyday. We dispatch for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Franktown, Jackson 105, Larkspur, Mountain Communities and West Douglas Fire Departments. We also contract with the United Fire Dispatch Authority to provide dispatch services to the Castle Rock, Cunningham and Parker Fire Protection Districts.
Public safety dispatching has become a very technical position. Dispatchers are required to be proficient with a number of computer systems and programs including:
- Plant Equipment 911 phones
- NICE Inform™ the world’s first full-spectrum incident information management solution
- Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD)
- Power Phone Total Response Computer Aided Call Handling
- CCIC/NCIC
- Motorola 800mhz trunked radio, as a member of the Consolidated Communications Network of Colorado, the users group for the Colorado Statewide Digital Trunked Radio (DTR) System
- First-In alerting
- Orion Map Star
- Pictometry
- Emergency Preparedness Network (reverse 911)
The Communications Center received approximately 367,400 phone calls requesting service in 2006. More than 67,500 of those were 9-1-1 calls. Seventy percent (70%) of 9-1-1 calls received are from wireless or cellular phones and VoIP. There were 13,736 fire/EMS calls dispatched and 120,497 law enforcement calls for service.
Our Dispatch Center and our staff have received a number of awards both locally and nationally. Douglas County Communications was the “Colorado Dispatch Center of the Year” in 2002 for their handling of the Hayman Fire. That same year one of our supervisors was named the Colorado APCO Supervisor of the Year. We also have on our staff the Colorado APCO Dispatcher of the Year for 2003 and 2006. We received national recognition from APCO International’s Project Locate as a Model Community for leadership in being one of the first Centers in Colorado and the United States to implement Phase II wireless and assisting other agencies to implement their programs.
Our staff is trained and certified in a nationally recognized Emergency Medical Dispatch system, Hazardous Materials, Incident Command, CCIC/NCIC, and a number of other specialized areas. Many members of our staff volunteer on the County’s Incident Management Team and are prepared to respond to major incidents in Douglas County.
If you are interested in learning more about becoming a dispatcher, click here to be forwarded to the employment page.