General Information

The department provides their emergency calling and dispatching services through the use of a four-site, ten-channel, 800Mhz Radio System; a full featured Computer Aided Dispatch System; an Enhanced 911 system; and an abundance of other related equipment.

• Background
• ECC Information Brochure
• Mission Statement
• Services
• Vision Statement
  

Background

The concept of centralized dispatching within the County was first conceived back in 1976 and originally started as a Division of the Hanover County Sheriff's Office. However, when the County begin looking at upgrading its 911 and radio system capabilities, it was decided to make the call taking and dispatching operation a separate department within the County. Therefore, in July1986, all of the personnel within the Emergency Communications Division of the Sheriff's Office were latterly transferred to the newly created Emergency Communications Department.

Since the inception of the new department, the County has replaced its two VHF radio systems with a 10 channel, 800Mhz trunked radio system. They have also replaced their old out-dated CAD system with a new full-featured CAD system, and their old Basic 911 system with an Enhanced 911 system. Aside from this, the department has worked very hard to continue to enhance its operation by adding additional personnel and equipment as needed.

Mission Statement

The Mission of the Hanover County Emergency Communications Department is to protect life and property of the citizens of Hanover County. Also to provide the various Public Safety and Public Service users with the highest, most efficient and professional level of service possible.

We will accomplish this mission by providing the:

• best training possible
• state-of-the-art equipment
• cutting edge technology
• continuous improvement

We are dedicated to providing our Communications Officers and field personnel with whatever they need to perform their duties in a safe and effective manner.

Services

The department offers and provides the citizens and its user agencies with a number of other services such as:

• VCIN/NCIC Terminal Operations
• The storage and maintenance of Criminal Warrants and other legal papers
• Emergency Medical Dispatch Services
• Rip N Run service for the Fire Department
• Tone and Voice and Alpha-numeric paging for Fire and EMS
• A Quick Start Program for the population with special needs
• House Watch Services
• Alarm Monitoring Services
• TDD Capabilities
• Wireless 911 call taking services
• Non-emergency call taking and paging services.

Aside from these duties, the department uses its four dispatch consoles and four call taking consoles to handle approximately 60,000 public safety calls per year. The calls for service, normal radio traffic, and officer initiated calls result in approximately 6 million radio transmissions per year, with approximately 2.5 million being generated by the dispatch consoles themselves.

Vision Statement

A motivated team of professionals dedicated and prepared to perform at the highest level of excellence.