PRE-1982
There was no Central Dispatch or 911.
Bedford City Police Department maintained a Dispatch Center.
Fire & Rescue Dispatched their own members.
JULY 1982
Bedford County just got an emergency phone number.
This was located at and part of the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office.
Communications would dispatch for the Sheriff’s Office and all County Fire & EMS agencies.
Bedford City still maintained their own Dispatcher.
Bedford County upgraded to a UHF radio system.
All Fire & EMS were dispatched via Pagers.All 911 lines and administrative lines for the Sheriff’s office were answered in the Dispatch office.
Most of the time there was only 1 dispatcher per shift.
There were 2 Dispatch consoles and phones.
There was no computer system, no mapping system and no addressing system.
In 1990 Dispatch received Computer Aided Dispatch.
JANUARY 10, 1999 10 AM
Bedford City and County opened the Joint Communications Center located at 1345 Falling Creek Road.
This included a new 800mhz Regional Radio System that contained Amherst, Bedford City, Bedford County, and Lynchburg City.
Dispatchers work 12 hour shifts – there’s permanent daylight, permanent nights, and have every other weekend off.
The Dispatch Center has a minimum of 4 people during days and evenings and a minimum of 3 people at night (After 11 PM).
Dispatchers receive classroom and on the job training, Department of Criminal Justice Services Basic Dispatch Seminar, NCIC/VCIN Certification, APCO Basic Telecommunicator Class, APCO Emergency Medical Dispatch Class, and APCO Fire Dispatch Class.
JULY 16, 2017
Harris P25 Digital Trunked Radio system
Harris Symphony radio consoles
WHO WE DISPATCH FOR
Town of Bedford Police Department
Bedford County Sheriff’s Office
12 Volunteer Rescue Squads
Bedford County Fire & Rescue Career Staff
12 Volunteer Fire Departments
Medical Helicopters
Bedford County Animal Control
Game Wardens
Virginia State Police
Virginia State Park Rangers
Blue Ridge Parkway Rangers
Town of Bedford Electric Department
Town of Bedford Public Works
Bedford Regional Water Authority
Bedford County Maintenance
Virginia Department of Transportation
Social Services
Juvenile Intake
Litter Control/Code Enforcement
Magistrates
Bedford County Public Schools
RADIO SYSTEM
Harris P25 Digital Trunked Radio System
Radios are programmable through a computer interface.
Bedford Communications is responsible for programming radios and coordinating repairs on radios.
911 CALL CENTER INFORMATION
Bedford Communications has 4 full Dispatch consoles and 1 Call-taker console.
Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) handles:
-All Active Calls-Units assigned to calls
-Logs for all units
-Historical calls
-Alerts to previous calls
-Alerts to wanted people
-Interfaced with RMS (Records Management System)
-Mobile Data
-SMS Paging of calls as secondary means of alert
GeoLynx Mapping System handles:
-Address lookup
-1st Due, 2nd Due, 3rd Due Fire & EMS agencies
-Closest Fire Hydrants & Water supplies
-Search Radius
-Latitude & Longitude
-Aerial Photography
Phone System
-8 911 lines
-4 Wireless 911 lines
-8 Administrative lines
-8 Other linesANI/ALI
-TDD Equipped
System:
Motorola Solutions Vesta 911
Text to 911 capability coming July 2020.
Harris symphony consoles
-Page Fire & EMS agencies
-ID to show which radio is calling
-Simulcast & Patch
VCIN/NCIC Computers
-DMV Files
-NLETS Files
-Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Files
-Criminal History Files
-Wanted/Stolen Files
-Teletypes/BOLOS
Exacom Hindsight Recording (installed July 16, 2017)
-All phone calls are recorded including before Telecommunicator pickup.
-All radio traffic is recorded.
-Instant playback of all phone calls.
-Instant playback of radio traffic.
-Archives all phone and radio traffic for 180 days.
Emergency Medical Dispatch
-Commonly known as EMD.
-Uses Standardized Guide Cards to Determine Response Types.
-Provides pre-arrival instructions to callers.
-Emergency medical telephone instructions for life threatening conditions.
-EMD will be digital by 2021
All Callers Interrogation
- Where is the patient?
- What is the problem?
- What is your name?
- Is the patient concious?
- Is the patient breathing normally?
- Describe the patient’s breathing?
Response Types
- ALS Priority Response – ALPHA
- BLS Priority Response – BRAVO
- BLS Standard Response – CHARLIE