Scarborough Police Chief

As with most agencies, Scarborough Police Department is comprised of a number of divisions, such as Public Safety Communications. Their work is mostly behind the scenes and is known to the general public as only the voice on the other end of the phone line. The reality is they are an integral part of public safety efforts. Often they are the life-line for officers, fire fighters, EMS providers and the public. We will look at a few minutes in the life of a public safety dispatcher through the eyes of Dispatchers Mindy Bisson and Kathleen Smith who put together the following piece. 

For most people the telephone ringing means a friendly “hello” from someone who wants to talk to you. In an emergency dispatcher’s case, most of our calls are from people who don’t expect to be making an emergency call. Answering the phone is just the first step in a complex chain of events.

Imagine arriving at work and making a pot of coffee, sitting down and getting ready to start your day. The coffee’s not done yet, and suddenly the 911 line rings. It’s a possible structure fire. The caller can see smoke coming up from the basement of their house. Your first mode of action is to have them evacuate the residence, and then dispatch the call. You’re dispatching a police officer, three fire engines, two ladder trucks, two rescues, a squad truck, the town’s command van, fire police traffic control, and you’re moving fire engines from one fire station to another to make sure the town is still covered in the event there is another call. You’re also finding hydrant locations for the fire engines before they arrive, and checking for hazardous materials on scene. 

Meanwhile, there’s been a burglary, and the police dispatcher is sending officers to the scene to try and catch the suspect. They’re calling out a police K9 unit to start a track and setting up a perimeter to keep suspects from escaping the area. 

The phone rings again and it’s a citizen who has lost their dog. You quickly take the information on the dog – height, weight, color, breed, name, where it was last seen, and assure the caller that if we come across it we will let them know. Now back to the structure fire. Units are  enroute, and there’s a firefighter on scene confirming there are flames coming from the basement. You must notify CMP and the water company so they can respond. 

Officers just started the K9 track and are hot on the trail of the suspect. Your 911 line rings again for a person having chest pain in another town. Since your agency is EMD (Emergency Medical Dispatch) certified, you must stay on the line and ask questions to find out the seriousness of the situation and possibly give instructions, all while acknowledging radio traffic of fire units arriving on scene.  

Finally, the rescue has arrived and you’ve disconnected with the chest pain caller, all units are on scene and have the fire under control, the suspect from the burglary has been apprehended at gunpoint, and another citizen has called in with a dog they just found. Now didn’t I put on a pot of coffee? And then 911 rings again.

Scarborough Police Department’s Dispatch Center is comprised of 10 fulltime and two part-time dispatchers. They have a combined experience of more than 100 years, with 82 of those years working for Scarborough. Each dispatcher is certified in Emergency Medical Dispatching and licensed through Maine Emergency Medical Services. They are certified in Enhanced 911 and hold a certification as a Certified Terminal Operator.  Scarborough is fortunate to be one of 26 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) in the state. This means when a 911 call comes in for Scarborough, it comes directly to us, without the additional step of being transferred from another agency. There are a minimum of two dispatchers working 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We are expected to work through all holidays and storm events. 

Scarborough’s dispatchers not only answer emergency calls for 20,000 Scarborough residents; we also answer 911 emergency calls for Hollis, Buxton, and Old Orchard Beach. We make a coordinated effort with these towns to provide a quick, smooth transfer of information between agencies.  This assures they can start the appropriate emergency services response without delay. In 2008, Scarborough’s Dispatch Center handled more than 9,700 emergency calls from four towns. 

When answering 911 we ask a series of questions of every caller. The first three questions, perhaps the most important of them all, are “What is the address of the emergency?” “What is the phone number you’re calling from?” and “Tell me exactly what happened?” 

Depending on the type of emergency, there will be other questions asked to determine the proper response needed. We follow a set of structured protocol cards that guide us through questions according to the emergency that is presented. These cards help guide the caller through CPR, the Heimlich maneuver, controlling bleeding and even child birth. Through questions we are able to update responding police, fire, and rescue personnel so they are better prepared to assist when they arrive on scene. 

Duties don’t stop at answering 911 calls, they also include dispatching police, fire, rescue services, coordinating efforts with the public works department, community services, and the sanitary district; answering the business phone with general questions and complaints, greeting citizens in the lobby of the station, and several other tasks as assigned by officers and firefighters. 

The fire department also depends on us to keep tabs on where they are and what’s around them that could be potentially hazardous. We keep track of a fire scene from the dispatch center by updating the amount of time spent on scene for a working fire or extrication. This helps firefighters maintain personnel safety by changing air tanks and is good information for personnel in command to have at the scene. We give out hydrant information to responding engines to assure that water is gained by the quickest and closest means. We gain knowledge of the surroundings of the call location through questioning a caller, and are ready with the correct response in the event more apparatus is needed to handle any situation as it develops.  

We never know what might be happening on the other end of a phone call each time we answer the phone, but you can be assured whether it is as straightforward as a lost dog or as complex as a structure fire, Scarborough’s Public Safety Dispatch Center is prepared to answer your call.

The Scarborough Fire, Police and Public Works Departments produce a weekly feature for the Leader educating the public about various duties of the departments and public safety issues.