What is the Communications Center ?

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Police Communications Center is the primary Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) for Duval County. The center answers all incoming phone calls through the 9-1-1 emergency line or the 630-0500 non-emergency line.

There are 140 positions assigned to Communications. In addition to answering 9-1-1 phone lines, the Communications Center also answers 'non-emergency' phone lines. Jacksonville Fire and Rescue is a secondary PSAP, meaning that the primary PSAP transfers calls involving fire or rescue to them, as appropriate.

Other jurisdictions within Duval County, such as Jacksonville Beach Police, Atlantic Beach Police, and Neptune Beach Police, operate PSAPs as well. Calls originating from within those jurisdictions are automatically routed to the appropriate PSAPs. All calls outside those jurisdictions are routed to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office PSAP is, by volume, one of the largest in the state. In 2007, it answered 1,729,510 calls on the 9-1-1 and non-emergency lines.

9-1-1 calls currently account for approximately 47% of the total call volume received in the Communications Center. Of those 9-1-1 calls, approximately 64% are from wireless phones.


The Communications Center of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is divided into two sections: Call-taking and Dispatching.

Call-taking
The Call-taking section answers all incoming phone calls from the public. Any call requiring police presence is entered into our computer system and sent to dispatch.

When necessary, a 9-1-1 Call-taker can add an interpreter from an outside service to the line. Non English speaking individuals who may need translation assistance should be able to to say, in English the name of their native tongue.

The Communications Center is equipped with special text telephones for responding to 9-1-1 calls from Deaf or hearing/speech impaired callers.

Dispatching
The Dispatching section is divided into of six separate zones, each with its own dispatcher, one detective dispatcher, and two National Crime Information Center/Florida Crime Information Center dispatchers. The zone dispatchers are responsible for dispatching calls for service to available patrol units as well as handling any incoming radio traffic from patrol units.