Communications Center

Communications Center

The City of Roanoke Communications Center is located in a secure facility and has 44 employees that comprise four platoons working a combination of 10 hour and 12 hour shifts. Administrative staff includes a Manager, Systems Administrator, Training Coordinator, and Accreditation Coordinator; the remainder of staff is directly related to operations. A normal shift consists of six to eight telecommunicators (dispatchers) and one or two supervisors. The center operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The communications center answers and monitors calls or events from:

Any 9-1-1 wireline and wireless call placed in the city of Roanoke
Calls after business hours to the public works (853-2225) or child abuse (853-2245) hotlines
Elevator phones in city facilities
Closed circuit television cameras in the Municipal Complex and the Market Street Pedestrian Bridge
Radio communications between police, fire, rescue and hospital personnel

In calendar year 2009, the center processed 149,218 calls for police, 24,124 calls for fire and rescue while processing 265,654 telephone calls. All telecommunicators are certified in emergency medical dispatching, cardiopulmonary resuscition (CPR), Virginia Criminal Information Network (VCIN) and National Criminal Information Center (NCIC). Telecommunicators use a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system to route calls and dispatch personnel.

Tours of the communications center are available to individuals or groups, particularly school field trips and neighborhood crime watch organizations. For more information, please call 853-2411.