Response time reports, call activity, incident frequencies, crime analysis data and operations reports depend on information derived from the calls for service.  This Unit is the department’s first point of contact for local, state, and national disasters and monitors / responds accordingly using various broadcasting and alerting systems. 

The Communications  Center monitors after-hours courthouse security and provides  dispatch services to the US Forest Service, and the federal Bureau of Land Management.

Calendar Year 2005 Operations
Our center handled 89,195 public initiated calls-for-service in 2005.  As the hub for Sheriff's and contract dispatch communication services, Communications Officers conduct initial assessment of requests and apply guidelines that screen the nature and urgency of incoming calls. The guidelines are a reflection of the Sheriff's policy, developed through our strategic plan and a balancing of resources, requiring uniform public safety access in unincorporated Lane County.

This "triage" results in a prioritization of those requests. Many services previously associated with the Sheriff's patrol function have been reduced through budget processes. Our focus has, by necessity, become directed at emergency or immediate life threatening incidents. Property crime and social nuisance issues, while still important in our service profile, will be deferred based on our ability to send a deputy to the problem.

As continuing social issues impact government, the Sheriff's Command group will be required to adjust response protocols that will impact service levels. 

Fiscal Year 2005-06 Objectives

1. Provide prompt, courteous and professional service to both our internal and external customers.
2. Monitor and respond to requests from the field, making officer safety the number one priority.
3. Receive and dispatch emergency and  non-emergency  calls-for-service in rural Lane County and provide other information/referral services to the public.
4. Accurately process and enter missing and wanted persons into the appropriate computer systems.
5. Modernize computing ability , through the Airs Consortium, to improve tracking of calls, reporting capabilities, management information and regional coordination (i.e., Computer Aided Dispatch, Mobile Computing, Records Management System, and Field Reporting technology.)
6. Improve supervisory coverage.