Emergency Dispatch Center

Dispatch

The 9-1-1 Dispatch Center is a specialized section of the Sheriff’s Office that provides centralized public safety communications to participating police, fire and emergency medical services within Genesee County.

Responsibilities of the Dispatch Center 

  • answer, process, and maintain the County’s Enhanced 9-1-1 Emergency Telephone System

  • the operation of the County’s 800 MHz trunked radio system, which includes assigning radio numbers; dynamic incident regrouping; maintaining the computerized radio subscriber list; as well as handling routine traffic on the system itself

  • answer telephone communications for the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office and the Batavia City Police Department and redirects these communications accordingly

The Genesee County Legislature has designated the Sheriff to administer the County’s 9-1-1 Center and the trunked radio system.  A County-Legislature-appointed Enhanced 9-1-1 Operations Board, consisting of members from law enforcement, emergency management, fire services, and emergency medical services, oversees operations of the County’s 9-1-1 Center.  The day-to-day operations are administered by a Director of Emergency Communications.  Timely and accurate recordings of information are vital to law enforcement, fire services and emergency medical services.  Information and the communicating of this information is the lifeblood of these agencies.  The benefactors of the activities of the 9-1-1 Dispatch Center include all the public service agencies served and the general public.

Text to 9-1-1 Service

Below are a few guidelines for the use of text to 9-1-1. 

  Call 9-1-1 when you can, text when you can’t.

  1. Calling 9-1-1 is always your best option as our dispatchers have a better chance of locating you and recording background noises or conversations that can be used as evidence if you are a victim of a crime.
  2. Text to 9-1-1 provides better access for individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or may have trouble speaking especially in a mobile environment.
  3. Text to 9-1-1 is appropriate for victims whose hiding location may be revealed by speaking on the phone.

 How to text 9-1-1 in an emergency:

  1. Enter the numbers “911” in the “To” field;
  2. The first text message to 9-1-1 should be brief and contain the location of the emergency and type of help needed;
  3. Push the “Send” button (if hiding, ensure phone and text alerts are silenced).
  4. Be prepared to answer questions and follow instructions from the 9-1-1 call taker.
  5. Text in simple words – do not use abbreviations or emoticons.
  6. Keep text messages brief and concise.

 Below are a few things to know if you need to text 9-1-1:

  1. Text location information is not equal to current location technology.
  2. As with all text messages, 9-1-1 messages can take longer to receive, can get out of order or may not be received; this may significantly delay response times.
  3. Text-to-9-1-1 is not available if you are roaming.
  4. A text or data plan is required to place a text-to-9-1-1.
  5. If texting to 9-1-1 is not available in your area, or is temporarily unavailable, you will receive a message indicating that texting 9-1-1 is not available and to contact 9-1-1 by other means.
  6. Photos and videos cannot be sent to 9-1-1 at this time.
  7. Text-to-9-1-1 cannot include more than one person. Do not send your emergency text to anyone other than 9-1-1.
Do not text and drive!

Prank calling or texting 9-1-1 can be considered falsely reporting an incident or aggravated harassment; you may be arrested and prosecuted for abusing the 9-1-1 system.

Additional information regarding text to 9-1-1 can be found at:
http://www.nena.org/?page=textresources

 

 

Business Emergency Contact Form

In order to provide businesses with the best service possible, we request that each business fill out the "Business Emergency Contact Form".  In the event of an after-hour alarm, burglary, fire, accident or other emergency, it may become necessary to notify a business representative or request a key holder to respond.  This information will be kept on file in the Emergency Dispatch Center should an emergency take place.  

All information is kept confidential for emergency services personnel and will not be used in any way for solicitation, sales, or released to the public.

Business Emergency Contact Form(PDF, 475KB)

 

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