The New Albany Police department is the primary Public Safety Answering Point (P.S.A.P.) for the City of New Albany. Police dispatchers take all emergency 9-1-1 calls. Calls for service are classified and then dispatched to police personnel and/or transferred to the appropriate fire or EMS emergency department. Cellular 9-1-1 calls are answered by either the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office or the Ohio State Highway Patrol and then transferred to the proper agency.
Tips
9-1-1 dispatchers understand that callers may be under a great deal of stress and are trained to provide help in a timely and professional manner. When calling 9-1-1, please keep in mind the following tips:
When callers are scared or agitated, they are sometimes difficult to understand. Staying calm helps get questions answered more quickly and the appropriate help dispatched more easily.
- State the nature of your problem quickly and clearly.
Until dispatchers know the nature of the call, they cannot begin to ask the questions most relevant to solving the problem and sending help. When calling 9-1-1, state the problem and be prepared to answer follow-up questions.
- Be prepared to give your location and phone number.
In most cases when someone calls 9-1-1, the address and telephone number are immediately available to the dispatcher; however, cellular callers cannot be located unless they tell us where they are. If you don’t know an exact address, look for intersections or landmarks such as nearby businesses. Memorize your mobile phone number.
- Answer the dispatcher’s questions simply and directly.
When asked yes or no questions, reply simply yes or no. If asked to describe something, be prepared to provide as much detail as clearly and concisely as possible. Follow any instructions that the call-taker gives you for your own safety.
Don’t hang up when you think that the conversation is over with the call-taker. The dispatcher on the phone is your link to the officer, paramedic or firefighters en route. In many cases, field units en route to a call may ask questions that the dispatcher needs to ask the caller. Also, staying on the phone during a crisis or altercation will potentially allow the call-taker to hear a crime or will let us know that you are safe.
Per policy, New Albany police officers respond to all 9-1-1 calls where the caller either hangs up prior to the dispatcher completing the call, or when there is an open line or accidental call. Dispatchers will call the number back, but a police response will also be sent in order to ensure that what the caller stated is happening is in fact happening. If you call 9-1-1 accidentally, please stay on the line so that the dispatcher can speak to you.
Dispatch
The New Albany Police Department staffs a 24/7 communications dispatch center. New Albany dispatchers are responsible for answering multiple administrative and 9-1-1 lines ranging from animal complaints, residential and commercial alarm drops, crimes in progress, public disturbances, traffic complaints, automobile crashes and fire and medical emergencies. Dispatchers respond to nearly 5,000 calls for service annually. Fire emergencies are also part of our 9-1-1 response system. We work closely with the Plain Township Fire Department, which provides fire and emergency medical service to New Albany residents.
Dispatchers log each officer’s activities daily in the computer aided dispatch (CAD) system, information which includes arrive-on-scene times, disposition and in-depth information on each call. Our dispatchers also enter warrants, protection orders, missing persons, stolen vehicles, stolen license plates, stolen guns and stolen articles into the LEADS and National Crime Information Center (NCIC) computer systems.
All dispatchers of the New Albany Police Department are state of Ohio Notary Publics and their Notary services are available to the public, free of charge, 24 hours a day.
The dispatch communications center itself, located at 50 Village Hall Road, includes two fully functional dispatch stations and one call-taker station if needed. Both dispatch stations are equipped with CAD (computer aided dispatch system) and RMS (records management system). Each station is also equipped with up to date 9-1-1 phone lines and state-of-the-art phone systems.
New Albany is one of Ohio’s safest communities and a reason for this low crime rate is the strong interaction between our officers, residents and businesses. Whether performing vacation house checks, patrolling neighborhoods or conducting bicycle safety programs for children, our officers understand that strong relationships set the foundation for a safer community.