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If you have an emergency in Monterey
County, dial 9-1-1. To reach your local law
enforcement agency for other reasons, use their
non-emergency numbers.
Monterey Counties Emergency
Communications Department is equipped with a state of the
art computer-aided-dispatch system. Our primary purpose is
to receive and process 9-1-1
calls for service and coordinate the response of emergency
equipment and personnel.
In support of this critical function, Monterey County had
two Communications Centers, one at the Courthouse in Salinas
and the other at the Courthouse in the City of Monterey. The
Salinas Center went online in 1972 ,and the Monterey Center
went online in 1974.
In April of 2004 the two dispatch centers were consolidated into one.
We dispatch for all cities and the unincorporated areas of
the County. This includes answering all emergency and
non-emergency calls for service, for Police, Fire and
Medical assistance. Depending on where the calling party is,
some medical and fire calls are transferred elsewhere for
dispatch.
County dispatchers handle on average 50,000 emergency and
non emergency calls on a monthly basis. In 2005 Emergency
Communications handled over 600,000 calls, 200,911 of which
were 911 calls.
The average answer time for a call is 6 seconds.
We provide emergency and non-emergency call processing for
over 415,000 people in Monterey County. As our community
grows so will our needs for these vital services.
The Communications Center has become the driving force in
the efforts to improve and increase the level of
professionalism in 9-1-1 services.
Features of Monterey County's 9-1-1
System include:
Emergency Service Number -
a code which designates each unique combination of public
safety service jurisdictions for areas of the County.
Master Street Address Guide - a document prepared
by the telephone company and the local coordinator
containing an alphabetical list of street names, address
ranges, postal communities, and Emergency Service Numbers
for each address where a telephone is located.
Selective Routing - each telephone call is
routed to the answering point having law enforcement
jurisdiction over the location of the calling instrument as
reflected by the Emergency Service Number.
Automatic Location Identification -
telephone company database information on calling telephone
number and location is displayed at each answering point.
Single-Button Transfer - any 9-1-1
telephone call can be transferred by an answering point to
any other answering point or to any telephone number at
need.
Translation Services - the State of
California provides transfer numbers for translation
services for 9-1-1 telephone calls in foreign languages
(Spanish, Vietnamese, and Mandarin Chinese) or via
telecommunications devices for the deaf. The Monterey County
Dispatch Center subscribes to AT&T Language Line Service, a
commercial service providing telephone translation in over
140 languages.
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