There are many important resources used by emergency services personnel to ensure the safety of the agency’s community. Each branch of emergency services has its list of necessary resources, but there is one that spans all branches, the 911 dispatch center. This is where all emergency calls come and then the dispatcher is responsible for sending the appropriate responders.
Within the 911 center, dispatchers are responsible for many things. Not only do they take emergency and non-emergency calls, but they also communicate with responders, keep track of which departments and members are responding, coordinate various resources and make contact with other agencies. The type of call and the agency responding determines which resources the dispatcher will need to utilize.
When it comes to calls where a police agency responds, the officer on scene may need to access information about an individual quickly. One resource that is used for this purpose is the National Crime Information Center or NCIC. This is a computerized database index of criminal records.
According to the Privacy Impact Assessment for the NCIC issued by Erin M Prest, Privacy and Civil Liberties Officer, approved in March of 2019, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) established the NCIC system in 1967. The assessment document states the system was established “… as a service to facilitate the sharing of law enforcement information, and participation now encompasses criminal and authorized noncriminal Justice agencies located in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories and possessions and select foreign countries. The NCIC system achieves this goal by being readily accessible to authorized personnel and purposes. The authorized purposes include solving crimes, finding missing persons. apprehending fugitives, finding and returning stolen property, protecting victims of domestic violence and others.
For many years, the Summers County 911 Center did not have direct access to the NCIC system. When an officer needed information from the system, dispatchers would have to reach out to 911 centers in other counties. This understandably created delays in officers receiving vital information.
Thanks to the efforts of the Summers County Commissioners, Ted Kula, Charles Saunders and Mike Gore, the Summers County 911 Center now has direct access. Commissioner Kula said, “NCIC helps keep our officers safe by providing offender data quickly.” He went on to say, “We appreciate the tireless efforts of Commissioner Gore to work with state authorities and Summers County 911 to make NCIC accessible locally in Summers County.” According to Commissioner Gore, there are more 911 related improvements on the horizon thanks to continued efforts by the entire Commission as well as 911 Dispatch officials and others.
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