Dispatch

911 Dispatcher PatchThe Canton Communications Center is now functioning as an independent department within the City of Canton supporting the communication needs of most every agency in the City. Foremost among these services is the 800 megahertz (MHz) radio communications our dispatchers (TCs) coordinate on a 24/7/365 basis.

Telecommunicators

The Canton Communications Center is currently staffed by fifteen civilian telecommunicators, supervised by a civilian dispatch supervisor, and under the command of a Lieutenant. 

Duties

The telecommunicators' work involves, but is not limited to:

  • Answering all emergency and non-emergency calls directed to the Police, Fire, Medic, and City Service Divisions
  • Appropriating by radio and/or phone the necessary safety and service personnel equipment
  • Providing the caller with information or referral required to satisfy the inquiry

The ultimate responsibility for the protection of a person's life, health, safety, and property most often begins with a phone call to a telecommunicator in the Communications Center.

Radio Communications

It's important to note that not only do we provide the Police and Fire Departments with their radio communications needs; we also support the Street, Water, and Sewer departments among other agencies in the City. The emergency Police and Fire services can be divided into "911" emergency calls, non-emergency calls, and operational maintenance communications necessary for the smooth operations of critical safety services.

Future Direction for the Communication Center

The community has made considerable progress in the area of County-Wide Dispatching/Communications. The most notable example may be the purchase and current development of a "New World" Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) software system.

Just as the City/County radio system offers universal radio service to all Stark County safety forces, so too will the CAD software allow all Stark County safety forces an opportunity to utilize a state of the art, unified dispatching tool. While the economic aspect of bringing a first-class CAD within the reach of many smaller agencies in the County is certainly exciting, so too is the prospect of integrating various user agencies through this software application. Participating agencies will be able to share their workload status with one another while still maintaining their functional anonymity.

The CAD brings promises of a more efficient communications center to all who step up and use it. Safety for our first responders will be enhanced through more comprehensive database availability. These databases will provide a ready source of information needed on the street to improve services to our community members and increase the safety to our officers and firefighter while on call.

Wireless Emergency Notification SystemSign Up for Canton Alerts

Sign up for Canton Alerts! Sometimes called the 'Stark County Emergency Notification System' or 'Reverse 9-1-1'. Not all telephone numbers are available to public entities, such as the City of Canton, so if you would like to receive these 'Canton Alerts!' on any telephone number, especially unlisted numbers or your mobile phone, you need to sign up.