What happens when you dial 9-1-1?
When you dial 9-1-1 from within the city limits of Marinette, your call is co-answered by a 9-1-1 dispatcher from the City of Marinette Police Department and Marinette County Sheriff's Department. The dispatcher from the Marinette County Sheriff's Department will ask you what your address is.
Once it is determined that you are within the City of Marinette, the sheriff's department dispatcher hangs up and the call is handled by the Marinette Police Department Communications Center.
Once the call is taken over by the City of Marinette, the dispatcher will immediately ask you what your emergency is and verify your address. The dispatcher will also ask you for the telephone number from which you are calling, or, in case you cannot stay at the phone you are at, an alternate number where you can be reached, if at all possible.
Depending on the situation, the dispatcher may dispatch the needed assistance immediately and have you wait on the telephone or ask additional questions and dispatch the assistance after hanging up with you. It may seem as if there are a lot of questions and the dispatcher needs a lot of information, but this is to be able to provide you with the most appropriate response possible. Much of the information is needed by responding officers, fire department or EMS units. Please be patient and answer all questions as best as you can. Rest assured, most of the time the assistance you have requested is already on the way, prior to the dispatcher gaining this additional information.
The dispatcher will most likely ask for your name, address and telephone number. This information is for the responding units and must be given when making a 9-1-1 call. The dispatcher has the ability to "lock" the line and trace the call to find out its origin so please, when basked, give the requested information.
The dispatcher will also ask about any suspects, weapons, persons fleeing the scene, injuries, descriptions of people involved, etc. if it is a police call. In the case of a fire call, they will ask if everyone is out of the building or vehicle, how many people are still inside, are there any children inside or any special circumstances the fire department may need to know en route.
In the case of an EMS call the questions will vary depending on the situation. These questions provide much needed information to the responding EMS crews. They can then prepare while en-route for what they expect to encounter. This preparation can save seconds in a life threatening emergency. Please try to be as calm as possible. In some cases the dispatcher may give you instructions on what you should do until the arrival of EMS personnel. Please follow these instructions to the best of your ability, if possible.
In some instances, during peak activity times, one dispatcher may answer you call and relay the information to a second dispatcher, who will dispatch the appropriate agency. You may not even realize this is happening while you are on the phone. Our dispatchers are professionals and will determine the best way to handle your situation.
As the dispatcher is getting the needed information, she/he is also entering it into a computer aided dispatch system. This system tracks all activity handled by the communications center. When an address is entered, The CAD system immediately verifies the address against an in-house database of all addresses within the City of Marinette. This helps ensure the correct address of the emergency has been determined.
The system also notifies the dispatcher of any dangerous situations that may exist at that location, contact people for a business, previous calls and any other information deemed "tagged" to the address or caller. The CAD system also tracks response times, unit availability, on scene times, suspects, license plates, etc. and can even tell the dispatcher which questions they should ask for the given situation.
Once the call is completed, the information gained by the dispatcher during the initial call is relayed to the responding agency/officer for use in their official reports as needed. This information proves invaluable in many instances.
A daily log record is created and maintained at the Marinette Police Department should a need to view it ever arise. These records are maintained for a number of years. All calls into the dispatch center via 9-1-1 are tape recorded and also kept for one year. The dispatcher on duty has the ability to review any call with the touch of a couple of buttons. This also includes all radio communications.
In the case of a disconnected call, or other circumstance where the dispatcher did not get all of the needed information or the call is inappropriately terminated, the dispatcher can immediately "ring back" the calling telephone. This capability is essential in some instances. The callers telephone line is "locked" and cannot be used until it is released by the dispatcher in the 9-1-1 center. This also gives the dispatcher the ability to have the call origin traced. This lets the dispatcher send resources to check on any given situation, even if the call cannot be re-connected.
As you can see, many things happen during a typical 9-1-1 call. While handling these items, the dispatcher must also handle any other traffic on the radio and/or telephone, Teletype or in person that occurs during the 9-1-1 call. Items are prioritized and handled accordingly.
These dispatchers also answer non-emergent telephone calls and handle all routine radio traffic and many other duties. If you call the police department for non-emergent assistance and are asked to hold for a brief time, please be patient, remember, they may have to handle your emergency first someday.
Remember, in any emergency dial 9-1-1,
we are here to help!
This page last updated on November 19, 1998
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