Welcome to the Baltimore Police Departments Communications Section

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Welcome to the Baltimore Police Departments
Communications Section
Deputy Major Craig Meier, Director
Communications Section
Lieutenant Scott G. Roper Operations Commander
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The Communications Section

• The Baltimore Police Communications Section is
  composed of three different units
• The 911 Unit
• The Police Dispatch Unit and
• The 311 Unit

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The 911 Unit

• When a citizen is confronted with an emergency in
  Baltimore City, they contact the Citys 911 Unit
  which is operated by the Police Department.
• The call is electronically sent to the Citys 911
  Center by the local telephone provider, Verizon.

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The 911 Unit

• The call is received on equipment that can
  discern two critical messages within the
  electronic signal
• The Automatic Number Indicator (ANI) which
  indicates what phone number the call is coming
  from, and
• The Automatic Locator Indicator (ALI) which
  indicates the address where the phone is located.

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The 911 Unit

• The ANI and ALI are then electronically received
  by the Computer Aided Dispatch system (CAD), and
  CAD places that information in the call for
  service.
• The 911 Operator then answers the call, and
  through a conversation with caller, learns what
  the emergency is and where the caller needs the
  Police, a Medic Unit, or Fire Apparatus.

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The 911 Unit

• If the caller needs Fire apparatus, the 911
  Operator forwards the call to Fire
  Communications.
• If the caller needs a medic unit, the call is
  switched to an EMT on duty in Fire Communications
  who performs the call entry function.
• If the Fire Department is in backlog, a call for
  service is created by the Police 911 Operator.
• If the caller needs police service the 911
  Operator enters the necessary information in the
  text of the call i.e.
• The incident that has or is occurring
• The correct number code that corresponds to the
  type of call or the call type
• The description of the suspects involved
• Any other information that might assist the
  Police Officer that will respond to the call for
  service.

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The Computer Aided Dispatch System (CAD)

• The 911 Operator then enters the call into the
  Computer Aided Dispatch System (CAD).
• CAD then accepts all the ANI and ALI information
  and all the information that the 911 Operator has
  entered into the text of the call for service.

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Police Deployment

• In order to understand the next step in the call
  handling process, Police Deployment in Baltimore
  City must be explained.
• The Police Department divides the City into nine
  Police Districts
• Central District
• Southeastern District
• Eastern District
• Northeastern District
• Northern District
• Northwestern District
• Western District
• Southwestern District
• Southern District

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Police Deployment

• CAD assigns a corresponding number to the Police
  District and it follows the numbering you saw on
  the previous slide
• Central District
• Southeastern District
• Eastern District
• Northeastern District
• Northern District
• Northwestern District
• Western District
• Southwestern District
• Southern District

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Police Deployment

• Each District is divided into 3 to 4 Sectors.
• Each Shift is assigned a letter code
• A The Midnight to 800 AM Shift
• B The 800 AM to 400 PM Shift
• C The 400 PM to Midnight Shift
• Each Sector is divided into 1 to 7 Posts.
• Thus 2B14 car is
• In the Southeastern District (2)
• Working the 800 AM to 400 PM Shift (B)
• In Sector 1 in the Southeastern District (1)
• The 4th Post in Sector 1 of the SED (4)

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Dispatcher Deployment

• Each District has its own dispatcher and
• Each District has its own talk group on the radio
  system.
• There is one dispatcher that controls the City
  Wide talk group.
• Criminal Investigation Division (Detectives)
• The Traffic Unit
• Motorcycles
• Accident Investigation
• Crime Lab Units
• Tactical Units
• Quick Response Team The Special Weapons and
  Tactics Team
• The Emergency Services Unit The bomb squad and
  counter sniper unit
• The Marine Unit
• A total of 10 dispatchers

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The CAD System

• The CAD System then reviews all the information
  it has been given, specifically
• The location of the call from the Automatic
  Locator Indicator or the location entered by the
  911 Operator, and
• The Type of the call entered by the 911 Operator.

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The CAD System

• CAD then determines
• The Police District the Call is in
• The Police Post the Call is in
• The closest available police unit (post) to the
  call.
• The call is then sent to the Police Dispatch
  position that handles the District the call is
  in, with a recommendation to the Dispatcher as to
  what Police Unit should be sent to the call.
• This entire process occurs in less than 1 second.

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Dispatch Unit

• The Police Dispatcher then selects the closest
  available unit for the call and via the radio
  system advises the unit of the call.
• The Dispatcher then enters his/her actions in
  CAD.
• If the Police Unit handling the call has an
  online Mobile Work Station, the call will also
  appear on the officers Mobile Work Station via
  an electronic signal.

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In Summary the 911 call process is as follows
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Police Non-Emergency 311 Unit
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Police Non-Emergency 311 Unit

• In 1995 the Baltimore Police Department answered
  1,331,601 calls.
• Of these almost 60 were deemed to be
  non-emergency calls.
• As a result
• The 911 Unit was handling a significant number of
  non-emergency calls.
• This detracted from the Units ability to handle
  incoming emergency calls for service.
• Patrol units were responding to a significant
  number of non-emergency calls.
• This detracted from patrol officers ability to
  handle emergency calls for service.

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Police Non-Emergency 311 Unit

• It became obvious that the Department had to
  develop a method to handle non-emergency calls
  for service to alleviate the number of
  non-emergency calls being handled by 911 and
  patrol units.
• The solution arrived at was to implement the use
  of a non-emergency number staffed by police who
  could over the phone handle non-emergency calls
  for service thus diverting those calls from the
  911 Unit and Patrol Units.
• The answer arrived at was to utilize 311 as a
  non-emergency number.

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Police Non-Emergency 311 Unit

• In 1996 the Baltimore Police Department received
  a grant from the Office of the Community Oriented
  Policing Services (COPS Office) of the Department
  of Justice to initiate a pilot 311 Unit.
• On October 2, 1996 the 311 Unit became
  operational.

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The 311 call process as of October 1996
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The 311 call process as of October 1996
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Police Non-Emergency 311 Unit

• Reports the 311 Unit may take over the phone that
  preclude a police response.
• Larceny of property valued at less than 1000 in
  which the complainant is unable to provide the
  identity or a description of a potential suspect.
• Destruction of property valued at less that 1000
  in which the complainant is unable to provide the
  identity or a description of a potential suspect.
• Lost Property.

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Comparison of 911 Calls before and after the
implementation of 311
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Percentage of reduction 911 Calls after the
implementation of 311(compared to before 311s
implementation in 1996)
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Police Non-Emergency 311 Unit

• As with any pilot project deficiencies were
  identified after its implementation.
• The process of handling calls requiring a police
  response posed some difficulties with the public.
• It was learned that the public expected a police
  response within 1 to 2 hours of calling 311.
• An officer was normally not responding to the
  complaint until 24 to 48 hours after the call was
  made.
• This led to some public dissatisfaction with 311.
• Thus, in April of 2001 the 311 call process was
  changed .

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Reconfiguration of 311

• Mayor Martin OMalley pioneered the CitiStat
  process. CitiStat is based upon the Comstat
  process utilized by the NYPD and the Baltimore
  Police Department.
• Comstat utilizes computer pin mapping and weekly
  accountability sessions to reduce crime.

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Reconfiguration of 311

• CitiStat is the result of the migration of this
  process to Baltimore City government. All City
  Department heads and bureau chiefs are held
  accountable for the quality of service provided
  to the citizens of Baltimore.
• This resulted in a highly motivated municipal
  bureaucracy, and a by product of this process was
  a reconfiguration of the utilization of 311 in
  Baltimore City.

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Current 311 call process
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Current 311 call process
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Police Non-Emergency 311 call process
At this point, the call process is significantly
different from the one instituted in 1996, and it
now meets public expectations.
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Current 311 call process
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Police Non-Emergency 311

• Quality compliance surveys have revealed the new
  call process has resulted in a 99 satisfaction
  rate of those that have called Police Non-
  Emergency 311 since the call process was
  modified.
• Citizens now find the police respond to a Police
  Non- Emergency 311 call within the expected time
  frames.

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The Future of 311

• The Police Department along with the Mayors
  Office of Information and Technology is now
  examining the potential of taking 311 Calls via
  the internet.
• In the future, the citizens of Baltimore will be
  able to e-mail non-emergency requests for police
  service and city services to 311.

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When Calling 911 or 311

• Try to give the exact location of where the
  incident is occurring I.E.
• Looneys Pub 2900 ODonnell Street.
• If you do not know the exact address utilize the
  100 Block of the street or road I.E.
• Looneys Pub 2900 Block of ODonnell Street.
• If you do not know the 100 Block of the street or
  road utilize the closest intersection and give
  its relationship to the location I.E.
• Looneys Pub, on the corner of ODonnell and
  Linwood.

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When Calling 911 or 311

• Try to describe exactly what is occurring I.E.
• There is a person holding a gun on the employee
  at the counter.
• Someone just broke the glass in front of the
  building and is entering the store.
• There is a large group of people in front of the
  store fighting.
• There is a large group in front of the store
  screaming and making a lot of noise.
• Someone is dealing drugs in front of the store.

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When Calling 911 or 311

• Try to give as an exact description as possible
  of the person or persons committing the offense
  using the following indicators
• Race
• Sex
• Age
• Height
• Weight

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When Calling 911 or 311

• Description continued
• Clothing
• Hat
• Style and color
• If no hat hair
• Hairstyle and color
• Jacket or shirt
• Style and color
• Pants
• Style and color
• Shoes
• Style and color

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The EndThank you for your time and attention.
The Baltimore Police Departments Communications
Section the Citys One Call Center