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| The Communications Center is the vital link between the citizens and the police. |
The link between the citizen and the law enforcement officer is the Communications Unit, headed by a lieutenant. This unit fields calls from citizens 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for matters covering the full range of law enforcement services, from the dispatch of a automobile wrecker to life and death emergencies. About a quarter million calls each year are serviced through the unit.
It is the 911 communications staff that forwards most of the emergency calls to the Mobile Police Department Communications Unit. (The 911 staff is employed by the Mobile County Communications District, and is networked, either directly or indirectly, to all emergency agencies in the county.)
Calls for service also are routed to the Communications Unit through non-emergency lines of the Police Department at 251-208-7211. These administrative lines relay the majority of calls for service, which are processed either by the dispatch of a police officer or by referral to the appropriate authority.
More than 56 dispatchers work round-the-clock to assure citizens that their needs are met promptly and properly. The radio system has been consistently updated. Recently, the Police Department doubled the number of frequencies available to the unit to ensure that the system can handle the volume of calls. Fifteen years ago, there were few calls into the early hours of the morning; today, dispatchers often stay busy until 5 in the morning answering calls for service.
Another recent improvement: a computer program to track official patrol car locations every 15 seconds or one-quarter of a mile. Based on Global Positioning System technology, the improved system will provide backup to radio-relayed information on patrol locations.
The City of Mobile utilizes an 800 MHz trunked radio system (fixed vehicular and portable), while the other emergency agencies in the county utilize a G.E. 800 MHz trunked system (fixed vehicular and portable). Both of these radio system are patched through to each other on a common Mutual Aid trunked talk group available to all users at all times.
The central communications center for the Mobile Police Department is located at the Mobile County Communications District building at 7340 Zeigler Blvd.
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