The Seymour Police Department Communications

 If the Street Patrol Division is the foundation of the department, then the Communications Division is the steel reinforcement within that foundation. Communications' primary function within the police department is to dispatch officers to complaints and provide information to the officers upon dispatch or request. Thus the name "dispatcher" is often used when referring to a member of this division. Dispatching, among other duties, can be a complicated and tedious task at times. Dispatchers become multitaskers, and are required to man the CAD (Computer Aided Dispatching) Console consisting of the phone system, CAD (Spillman) Computer, the 911 Emergency Console, and the NCIC/IDACS program which links our dispatchers with the BMV's and warrant advisory systems nationwide. A dispatcher, at times, will be accessing all of these components at the same time to obtain information for the responding officers, dispatch the officers to the complaint, and dispatch and direct emergency calls to the appropriate agency (i.e. fire and ambulance). The Seymour Police Department currently maintains two dispatchers on-duty at the same time. Dispatchers are responsible for up to 9 officers at one time while answering 7 different phone lines. Prioritizing is a key skill within this job and shouldn't even be considered without it. There are three separate shifts for dispatchers at the Seymour Police Department which provides communications 24/7. This leaves a dispatcher on-duty 24 hours per day, and 365 days per year (Including holidays). In addition to the above mentioned responsibilities, the dispatcher's position does require some clerical work. The dispatcher answers the phone and directs it to the appropriate employee, takes phone messages, types reports, files paperwork such as citations and 911 printouts, monitor surrounding agency radio traffic and provides information to citizens about non-criminal matters such as school closings, weather conditions, and general directions. Another responsibility of the dispatcher, but not the final, is to monitor the weather conditions for the local area as provided by the National Weather Service. The dispatcher must then activate, when required, the local warning system to advise the local community of the impending severe weather.