Orange County NC Website
2 <br />The 911 Center dispatched 181,974 calls for service in fiscal year 2010/2011. In fiscal <br />2008/2009, 186,225 calls were handled; and in fiscal year 2009/2010, the center dispatched <br />183,611 calls for service. The numbers are based on the times a Call for Service (CFS) report <br />is created. There was no standardized CFS coding system until the latter part of the 2009; <br />therefore many calls handled by the 911 Center never received aconsistently-coded CFS <br />report. For example, a resident who calls for information, or a mistaken dial in which an agency <br />was not dispatched but handled by the telecommunicator and determined as no resource <br />needed, was not consistently documented in a CFS Report. Multiple agencies dispatched to <br />one :incident location were counted as one CFS Report. Currently, all calls are now required to <br />receive a CFS Report with documentation of the action. <br />The center interacts with up to 13 fire and rescue departments, seven law enforcement <br />agencies, emergency medical services agencies, and support agencies within and surrounding <br />Orange County such as Animal Services. To accomplish this daily balancing act, <br />telecommunicators receive all 911 calls, process them for accuracy and agency <br />appropriateness, dispatch multiple units often representing different agencies, monitor multiple <br />channels and continue the process until the call is completed, in addition to continuous <br />monitoring of law enforcement channels due to frequent events of officers initiating calls. <br />Addressing the workload in the Center requires six (6) consoles to be staffed that handle: <br />1 telecommunicator: 2radio channels for Sheriff's Department and answer phones <br />1 telecommunicator: 2radio channels for Chapel Hill Police Department and answer phones <br />2 telecommunicators: 4radio channels for Carrboro and Hillsborough Police Department and <br />answer phones <br />2 telecommunicators: 13 radio channels for EMS/Fire/Rescue and answer phones <br />The supervisor would then be available to monitor the daily operations and relieve as needed <br />for breaks, trainings, remedial training and focusing on major events. Minimum staffing is <br />currently 5 telecommunicators, including the supervisor who works a console; however this <br />does not accommodate additional duties assigned. <br />The 911 Center is responsible for handling all record check requests through the Division of <br />Criminal Information for any agency authorized to receive these transactions (law enforcement, <br />Department of Corrections, Housing and Development, attorneys). Center staff are also tasked <br />with handling all resident requests after hours and on weekends for contacting Animal Services, <br />Public Works, Department of Social Services, Probation/Parole Officers and any other <br />governmental agency with on-call staff. <br />Major events impact the ability for telecommunicators to focus on the responders due to the <br />continued responsibility for answering phones and assigned radio channels. Other additional <br />duties include monitoring alarm systems, monitoring cameras, answering administrative <br />telephone lines, and utilizing Emergency Medical Dispatch to assist a patient prior to the arrival <br />of an ambulance thus reducing the availability of the telecommunicator to answer other phones <br />but still monitor radio traffic. This is accomplished consistently with four console positions plus <br />a supervisor who currently staffs a console. When all 28 positions are staffed, an additional two <br />positions could potentially be posted daily. However this could not be realistically accomplished <br />without causing considerable overtime due to employee leave, illnesses, turnover and <br />mandatory training. <br />