Each year, during the second week of April, telecommunications personnel in the public safety community are honored for the crucial work they do.
A Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) is commonly referred to as a 911 Communications Center. This is where 911 Telecommunicators work and it is the nerve center for emergency services.
What is a Telecommunicator's job?
Telecommunicators act as the first point of contact for individuals seeking emergency assistance. The 911 Center not only takes 911 calls, but essentially connects callers to responders including police, fire, and emergency medical services. During the call a 911 telecommunicator determines which responders are dispatched, coordinates the response, and networks responders together.
911 Centers play a crucial role in providing quick and accurate emergency response, which can save lives. 911 Telecommunicators are highly trained people who are not just phone operators, but are trained to gather vital information from, and provide instructions to, callers when possible.
What happens at a PSAP?
PSAPs don’t just take emergency calls, many 911 Communication Centers complete other tasks for local or county agencies. Depending on the center they may do a combination of the following on top of receiving and dispatching emergency calls:
- Processing court paperwork, including warrants, no contact orders, and entering in information into national databases.
- Provide lifesaving instructions to callers until first responders can arrive.
- Answer non-emergency lines for police, city services, public works, animal services, county roads, and other agencies.
- May have other functions as part of their job, such as acting like jailers.
- Act as the point of contact for other agencies outside of the state for emergency services.
What does Iowa 911 look like?
Iowa's 911 system consists of 111 PSAP across 99 counties. The PSAPs answer wireline, wireless, and voice-over internet protocol (VoIP) emergency calls, as well as Text-to-911 messages from across the state. All 99 Iowa counties are text-to-911 capable.
Always call 911 if you can, but text if you can't talk. Text-to-911 can also be used by those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
What is the process of calling 911?
- You call 911
- Your call is routed to the closest 911 Communications Center (also known as a Public Safety Answering Point) in your area.
- A telecommunicator begins gathering information about the Emergency.
- Often while one telecommunicator is gathering information about the emergency, another telecommunicator dispatches responders.
- A telecommunicator continues to gather information from callers.
- Telecommunicators update responders with information from callers after responders have been dispatched.
Check out our Know Your 911 webpage for more information.