Full Notification

MEDIA RELEASE / COMMUNITY ALERT
CITY of SAN MATEO POLICE DEPARTMENT
200 Franklin Parkway, San Mateo, CA 94403
www.cityofsanmateo.org



April 2014, San Mateo, CA –

San Mateo Police Department is celebrating the second full week of April (April 13-19) as National Public Safety Telecommunications Week. This week, sponsored by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International and celebrated annually, honors the thousands of men and women who respond to emergency calls, dispatch emergency professionals and equipment, and render life-saving assistance to the world’s citizens.

A little about SMPD’s Public Safety Dispatchers –

The San Mateo Dispatch Center is a division of the Police Department and dispatches for about 120 officers in two agencies. The San Mateo Dispatch team is known throughout the County for its professionalism and desire to serve the public. Often taken for granted, Public Safety Dispatchers are the gatekeepers, maintaining with poise and intuition the critical link between our community and the officers that patrol it.

Your San Mateo Public Safety Dispatchers handle the following each year:
• Dispatching more than 50,000 calls for service
• Answering over 300,000 telephone calls
• Handling more than 40,000 9-1-1 calls
• All done while managing over 2 million radio transmissions with SMPD Officers and Staff.

SMPD’s Dispatch Center provides contract dispatch services to the City of Brisbane and is currently seeking to expand that role as a regional dispatch services provider. The City of San Mateo’s dispatch center houses one of the County’s newest state-of-the-art communications facilities.

The Dispatchers work in a team environment 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Dispatchers are trained in department policies, procedures and systems. Operating as a Public Safety Dispatcher requires a strong work ethic, strong customer service skills and strong interpersonal skills.

Dispatchers receive incoming calls for police and fire for a number of local jurisdictions and dispatch necessary units using a computer aided dispatch system. They determine the nature, location, and priority of an emergency, and coordinate the response of police, fire, ambulance or other emergency units.

Dispatchers also compile statistics on calls received, and play an integral part in the crime trend information made available to the public at www.crimereports.com .

Please join the City of San Mateo Organization and the San Mateo Police Department in honoring our Public Safety Dispatchers and thanking them for the outstanding and often thankless service and support that they provide to the community and the Police Department!



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