Communications Bureau (Dispatch Center)

Oakland County Sheriff's Office, Law Enforcement Services

The Sheriff's Communications Bureau supports all divisions of the Sheriff's Office and operates one of the largest police/fire dispatch 911 centers in Michigan.  The Bureau is made up of one Chief of Communications,  six Dispatch Specialist Shift Leaders, forty Dispatch Specialists, and one office assistant.  One additional position is assigned as a Quality Control Auditor, who routinely reviews service quality to ensure a constant and consistent work performance, and also provides for the specific training needs of the staff. 

The bureau provides all the emergency and non-emergency answering for all of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and five local law enforcement agencies.  This includes 911 cell phone calls for many communities within Oakland County.  911 calls constitute 77% of all calls received.  Additionally, emergency dispatching for twelve fire departments is provided as well as for Oakland County Animal Control after regular business hours.  All call takers are fully trained in Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) as well as Emergency Fire Dispatch (EFD).  Nineteen Dispatch Specialists volunteer to be designated fire dispatchers. 

The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center serves as the “default call center” for the entire County.  Upon receiving these calls, the staff determines the location of the emergency and transfers the call to the appropriate law enforcement or fire agency.  This process has proven to be an efficient and seamless solution for routing these 911 emergencies.

The Sheriff’s Office 911 center is equipped to provide assistance to other area 911 centers if a center is unable to operate due to a situation, such as phone outages, etc.  During those emergencies, the Sheriff’s Office center is designed to accept re-routed 911 calls from those affected areas.

In 2010, the OPEN SKY radio system was deployed in our Communications Bureau.  The Sheriff’s 9-1-1 center is now able to communicate with any law enforcement officer, firefighter, EMT, as well as any other Oakland County dispatch center.  These first responders also have the ability to communicate with each other and coordinate their responses using one of the nation’s most advanced inter-operable radio networks.  The Next Generation ready Positron VIPER 9-1-1 System was integrated into the Sheriff’s 9-1-1 center and has improved call routing, call handling, and is now providing statistical data identifying trends in peak call volumes to assist in the scheduling of personnel. The entire Communications Bureau remains committed to providing the best service possible.