Communications Bureau

It is the mission of the Atlantic City Communications Bureau, a 9-1-1 Public Safety Answering Point, to provide rapid and convenient access to Public Safety for the citizens and visitors of this city.

We shall respond to their cries for assistance in a timely manner with the appropriate response.

We shall be committed to responder safety and offer assistance to all other agencies, when requested, and within our means.

We shall strive to accomplish this by employing only those who demonstrate a desire and aptitude for public safety. We shall attract them with a competitive salary, provide them with the proper training and the latest technological resources within our means.

Who are we?

The Communications Bureau is comprised of members of the Communications 9-1-1 Center, the Radio Shop, Information and Technology Section, Administrative Offices and the Training Unit. The Communications 9-1-1 Center is the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) and the Public Safety Dispatch Point (PSDP) for all 9-1-1 calls that originate or involve the geographic boundaries of Atlantic City, N.J. Our city is Unique.
Although we have a population of just less than 50,000 residents, on any given day, our population can swell to more than a quarter of a million visitors and guests.

The Bureau is staffed twenty-four hours, seven days, by approximately fifty civilian employees to handle any and all requests for public safety services. All of our personnel face an extremely difficult, challenging but rewarding career choice. Their jobs require them to possess a tremendous amount of knowledge and ability in responding to the needs of the citizens, visitors and uniformed personnel each and every hour of every single day. They are the nameless, faceless professionals who are diligently performing a highly stressful and fast paced job. In addition, they must possess, or quickly acquire, many critical skills from multi-tasking to proper extraction of information to the immediate prioritization of emergency requests, just to name a few. It takes a very special type of person to do this type of job. As you see, it is not a job for everyone.

What do we do?

We are the Primary First Responder. All calls for Police, Fire, Medical, general information and just about anything else you could imagine are directed to Communications. We receive, record, prioritize and dispatch all requests for service from emergency and, as necessary, non-emergency telephone callers at five permanent telephone consoles with a provision for two more in times of crisis. The Communications Officers at these consoles will ask a detailed series of questions to determine the location, nature and urgency of the request. As they gather the information on emergency calls, they enter it into a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system and it is sent to the appropriate dispatcher who relays the information to the responding units.
Calls for non-emergencies and general information (usually those that are not received on a 9-1-1 line) are documented, as is necessary, and provided with the proper disposition of
services or information. Last year there were over 160,000 responses sent to the more than 250,000 calls received by the Communications Bureau.

Our Communications Officers also respond to the needs of our uniformed personnel, on the job. They may require a telephone notification, a look-up of a driver’s license or registration. Some may depend on Communications personnel for information on
available resources they may require for their case. Others may call for a search of all records to determine if an individual is wanted for any offenses by any other jurisdiction in the country or the world. Just about any task the official cannot perform on the street, is performed by the Communications personnel in this Bureau.

The dispatch function also records the general activity as well as self-initiated calls and actions which the uniformed personnel encounter during their tour of duty. This is not only a function of record-keeping, it is another safety procedure to account for the location of personnel who are assigned to various tasks all over the city.

In the Communications Center, there are also a host of other duties and responsibilities, depending on the individual’s shift assignment for the day. They may dispatching police officers or just be monitoring a group of public safety or public service radio channels and communicating with the surrounding jurisdictions. Today, someone will be dispatching the police department’s tow trucks, tomorrow they may dispatch fire
apparatus. Someone will have to monitor the burglar and fire alarm console. No two days are ever the same in the Communications Bureau.

Additionally, the Bureau has other extensive responsibilities which overlap many areas. Our Information and Technology Section is the source of recordings which are supplied and used for criminal justice proceedings and purposes. The Radio Shop is responsible for a vast array of equipment for the Police and Fire Departments and all of the city’s support services. Not only do they install and maintain the mass of radio equipment in every fixed and mobile location, they also deal with the installation and maintenance of all electronic additions (sirens, loudspeakers, warning lights, flood lights, etc) for Atlantic City’s entire vehicular fleet. Radio Shop personnel are also responsible for the installation and upkeep of all the fire and burglar alarms safeguarding every municipal location in the city. The Administrative unit coordinates all telephone and communications related lines, equipment, services and repairs for the various offices and municipal locations throughout the city. Additionally, they provide the same services for all city employees who have been assigned cellular telephones or
pagers.

How do you contact us?

Any emergency call should be directed to9-1-1, the number that brings you the quickest response in instances where there is an immediate threat to life or property. This would include, but is not limited to, fires, crimes in progress, medical emergencies, motor vehicle accidents with injuries, gunshots, suicide, fights, domestic disturbances, audible alarms, structural collapse, weapons seen, odors of gas, suspicious persons and
immediate dangers or hazards to yourself or others.

All other calls, business or questions should be directed to our regular incoming lines at 347-5780. These calls, for instance, may also include illegally parked vehicles, information or a report about a crime that is not in progress, a loud party, someone late coming home from work… If there is ever any doubt of the urgency or danger involved, dial 9-1-1. If the circumstances are not appropriate for a 9-1-1 call, the Communications Officer will direct you to hang-up and dial 347-5780 so we can keep the emergency lines clear and available to callers with bona-fide emergencies.