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Hamilton County Department of Communications
The Hamilton County Department of Communications is amulti-agency and multi-jurisdictional communication center. Thecenter is responsible for two divisions of county government. ThePublic Safety Communications Division, one of the firstconsolidated systems in the country, was established in 1949. TheTelecommunications Division was formed in 1990. Both divisionsoperate under authority of the Hamilton County Board ofCommissioners. The current facility, located in the northern partof the county, was built in 1975 specifically for communications.The department has always had a reputation for innovation anddedication to serving the needs of the public safety community.In the mid ’70s the center featured one of the first fullyautomated CAD systems in the nation. The center was also apioneer in fire transmitter steering, simulcasting, and providingenhanced telecommunicator training and EMD. Today, the totallycivilian center employs 75 communications professionals. The 61communications officers and 9 shift supervisors are cross trainedto perform all communications functions. In providing emergencyE9-1-1 communications, the Communications Division serves as theprimary PSAP for 40 municipalities and over 100 independentpolice, fire and EMS agencies. The division also serves as thePSAP Associate for 5 additional communities. Hamilton Countyserves a population of about 500,000 citizens, receives about850,000 calls per year, resulting in over 400,000 incidents(dispatches), generating about 3.5 million radio transmissionsannually. The division also utilizes a countywide MDT systemwhich processed over 6.5 million transactions in 1996. TheTelecommunications Division, which employs 9 persons, hascountywide responsibility for maintaining telephones, switches,wiring and cabling for all county facilities. The division alsoprovides oversight for the County’s wide area networkinfrastructure and the telephone operators that provideinformation and assistance to Hamilton County’s residents.
City of Cincinnati Police and Fire CommunicationsCenter
http://www.cincinnatipolice.org/
The City of Cincinnati is located on the banks of the OhioRiver in the southwest corner of Ohio. Public safety personnel inthe City are responsible for 78.6 square miles and a residentpopulation of 364,000. Businesses in the area draw employees fromthe Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana area bringing the daytimepopulation to over 1 million.
The Police Division employs 961 sworn officers and 289civilian personnel. The Fire Division employs 770 sworn andcivilian.
Cincinnati Police-Fire Communications Center is located on thethird floor of the Police Administration building and handles allincoming 9-1-1 calls for Cincinnati. It also serves as the PSAPfor the University of Cincinnati and the City of St. Bernard.Cincinnati calls for medical service are transferred to the Firemedical pre-arrival desk for interview. The Police operation, ledby a Police Captain and Lieutenant, employs 10 civiliansupervisors, 50 dispatchers, 42 call takers, 4 sworn officers,and 11 clerical support personnel. Fire operations are comprisedof a Fire District Chief, 4 civilian supervisors, and 12dispatchers. In 1996, 13 phone positions handled 572,069 phonecalls. Five primary police dispatch positions handled 487,098incidents. Three primary fire dispatch positions handled 70,009Fire/EMS incidents.
The Communications Center utilizes Motorola Centracom IIconsoles, AT&T phone system, Exacom playback recorders, aTEAC optical disk logging recorder and a PRC CAD system. Fieldunits use Motorola 9100-11 MDTs in a county-wide system.
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International AirportE9-1-1 PSAP
Situated at the junction of three mid-western states(Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana) along the Ohio River is theCincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. The airportcovers approximately 10 square miles in Boone County, Kentucky.The airport is 13 miles south of the City of Cincinnati. TheAirport Police Department serves a “population” thatincludes 10,000 employees and over 19 million travelers annually.The airport’s 16 carriers handle 530 flights daily to 108 nonstopdestinations within the United States, Canada, Europe and SouthAmerica.
The Communications Section of the Airport Police Departmenthandles 23,000 calls for service annually for the PoliceDepartment and “after hours” for the Airport RescueFire Fighting Section (ARFF). This includes all E9-1-1 calls. ThePolice Department has 54 employees and a joint Airport DrugInterdiction Task Force made up of nine officers from sevenagencies.
The Communication Center uses a three position console thatincludes an Ericsson EDACS seven channel, 800 MHz Trunked RadioSystem, along with the Spillman Data Systems CAD and RecordsManagement System. The Department utilizes a Motorola Single Site800 MHz Mobile Data Radio System for use in vehicles. Inaddition, the Airport Communications Section monitors theAirport’s Access Control System that oversees all activities atthe Airport through over 200 CCTV cameras, door and gate controlsand checkpoint monitors.
Telecommunicators also have access to the Regional HospitalNet that alerts area hospitals to an emergency and coordinates aresponse through the University of Cincinnati’s Hospital in theevent of a plane crash or the activation of the National DisasterMedical System (NDMS).