Santa Clara County Communications

• History
• Budget and Performance Measures
• Divisions
• NAED Accredited Center of Excellence

History:

Established January 19, 1948 by the Board of Supervisors, the Communications Department has been providing Public Safety Dispatching and Technical Support Services to the County for over fifty years.

Budget and Performance Measures:

Fiscal Year 2008 Final Budget

• Section 1: Finance and Government (PDF)
  (Page 69: County Communications)

Divisions:

Dispatch Operations:

County Communications is the first point of contact for citizens calling 9-1-1 from jurisdictions served by the Sheriff's Office.  These jurisdictions include the unincorporated areas of the county, as well as the contract cities of Cupertino, Los Altos Hills and Saratoga.  County Communications provides emergency call answering and dispatching for the Central Fire District and the Saratoga Fire District.  Communities served by the Santa Clara County Fire Department include Campbell, Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill and Saratoga.  County Communications also provides countywide paramedic transport service dispatching for all areas of the county with the exception of Palo Alto.

It is Communications' responsibility to quickly dispatch appropriate law enforcement, fire and medical personnel and equipment in order to assist the caller.  Additionally, dispatchers provide approved instructions for medical emergencies, which allow the caller to participate in the treatment process even before help arrives.  The dispatch center also provides dispatching for over 60 other local government agencies and departments.  Dispatchers coordinate the multiple resources, tasks and related activities of agencies while ensuring the safety of all field responders.

County Communications is able to provide backup 9-1-1 call answering services for the cities of Mountain View, Palo Alto, Campbell, Morgan Hill, Milpitas, Los Gatos, Santa Clara, Gilroy and Sunnyvale in the event of a 9-1-1 system failure in those cities.

All Multiple Casualty Incidents involving multi-jurisdictional utilization of resources are coordinated through County Communications.  As an Operational Area Coordinator for the State Office of Emergency Services Region II, County Communications also handles all Mutual Aid requests for resources entering and leaving the county.

Technical Services:

The Technical Services Division provides the technical design, implementation, maintenance and repair of all radio communication and related system equipment used by Dispatch Operations and primary users of countywide emergency communications systems.

Technical Services also provides design, implementation, maintenance and repair of communication systems and equipment for approximately 20 other local government agencies and medical transport service providers.

NAED Accredited Center of Excellence:

The National Academies of Emergency Dispatch (NAED) Accredited Centers of Excellence (ACE)

• Santa Clara County Communications

• Fiscal Year 2008 Final Budget