Communications 

Communications Division

The role of the Communications Division is to monitor, receive and dispatch emergency and routine police calls for service as quickly and efficiently as possible to all areas within the Town of Southern Pines.  The Communications Division also interfaces with state and national law enforcement agencies and communications systems as well as the Moore County Department of Emergency Services 911 Communications Center and the Southern Pines Fire/Rescue Department.  These services assure our citizens of quality emergency attention and guarantees that units in the field receive needed information and assistance necessary to respond to those requests.  The Communications Center also serves as a crucial support to the police officer in the field, providing timely, complete information necessary to help the officer do a thorough, safe and effective job.  In addition, the Center documents all activities and works closely with The Administration Division to guarantee that proper documentation is collected and entered into the computerized records management system.  All Telecommunicators are trained and certified by the State of North Carolina for emergency public safety communications.
 
The Division uses a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) System to dispatch the required assistance in a timely manner.  The CAD system indicates the particular Patrol Zone the call has come from and that Zone officer is then dispatched to the call for service. The CAD tracks the call from the time it is received until the time it is completed.

Personnel of the Southern Pines Police Communications Division utilize the North Carolina Division of Criminal Information (DCI) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) to enter, modify, cancel, and retrieve existing data from these data bases and from all of the data bases that interface with them. These data bases reveal information on driver licenses, vehicle registrations, vehicles and articles that have been reported stolen, existing warrants, court orders, and a host of other crime and other law enforcement related data. These systems usually provide an officer with a result within seconds of the entry of the request into the system by a Telecommunicator.

For police response in an emergency, dial 911.  An emergency is generally defined as any situation in which life, property, or someone’s safety is in immediate jeopardy.  If you see a crime in progress, or if you are in a situation which might be dangerous to yourself or someone else or if you believe property is going to be damaged in some way, call 911 immediately.  Your call to 911 will initially be routed to the Moore County Department of Emergency Services 911 Communications Center in Carthage.  If the location of the situation is within the corporate limits of the Town of Southern Pines, Telecommunicators there will then transfer the call to the Southern Pines Police Department Communications Center.  Remember, 911 is not for directions, weather/road conditions, or to speak with an officer or an investigator.  Those are considered “non-emergencies”.  Misuse of the 911 system is against the law. 

For a non-emergency, call the Southern Pines Police Department Communications Center non-emergency line at (910) 692-7031.  For administrative issues, call the Administrative Offices at (910) 692-2732 during normal business hours. 

History of 911

In 1967, the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice recommended the creation of a single, universal number that could be used from coast-to-coast to report emergencies. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was then charged with spearheading this bold initiative. In turn, the FCC met with AT&T in November of that year in order to devise a solution. In the first days of 1968, AT&T chose a brief, easy to remember, and simple to dial number: 9-1-1. In Alabama, then president of the independent Alabama Telephone Co. (ATC), Bob Gallagher, read a report of the AT&T 9-1-1 announcement in the Wall Street Journal. Gallagher’s entrepreneurial and competitive nature moved him to be the first to implement the 9-1-1 service. An ATC employee, Robert Fitzgerald, recommended Haleyville as the launch site. Gallagher later issued a press release announcing that the 9-1-1 service would go live in Haleyville on February 16, 1968. Circuitry work and installation were both quickly completed, and just 35 days after AT&T's announcement, the first-ever 9-1-1 call was placed.  It was placed from the City Hall by Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite to U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill at the city's police station.  (SOURCE:  National Emergency Number Association).