Dispatchers assess calls to determine type of help needed
Did you know that April 10-16 is National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week? We at the Boulder City Police Department think our dispatchers are great and we appreciate everything they do. Thank you to our dispatchers.
The dispatch center is probably who you will talk to first in the event of a crime or an emergency. The dispatch center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We have six full-time dispatchers and one part-time dispatcher (in training) to cover all shifts.
Boulder City is unique in the fact that we have such a large area to cover in our jurisdiction. Our city limits go to the edge of the first parking lot approaching Railroad Pass from our city and continue down U.S. Highway 95 to mile marker 36 past the solar fields toward Searchlight. The southern border is at mile marker 6 near the sign at the bottom of the hill on U.S. Highway 93 leading into the National Park Service’s jurisdiction.
The city has many miles of sage and sand between town and Nelson including the Western Area Power Administration complex and turtle conservation area. Bootleg Canyon and various locations along old U.S. 95 to the right of U.S. 95 are also included.
We are responsible for police, fire and medical calls, including 911 calls made in our area. We are also the after-hours contact for power, water and sewer issues. One power outage can cause pandemonium because of our level of staffing so please listen to the recording on the nonemergency line (702-293-9224, ext. 2) for updates.
It can be difficult to make calls for crews to respond, record updates on the recording and field calls from hundreds of residents. Add that to the normal, everyday calls that come in and it can be overwhelming. You may be put on hold for several minutes during these instances.
We will have specific questions to ask during routine and regular calls, so be patient with our interrogations so we can get help heading your direction in the fastest and safest possible manner.
Tina Ransom is a dispatcher with Boulder City Police Department. She is coordinator of the Boulder City Citizen’s Academy.
