911 Center

Vision

To be the best 911 call taking and emergency services dispatching center, with professionalism, a caring nature, integrity and excellence, in the Southeast Region of the United States. Our values of professionalism, caring nature, integrity and excellence surround our vision.

Mission

  • Provide the citizens of Greater Lowndes County with a "timely and accurate communications link (wireline and wireless) to Emergency Response Services (law enforcement, fire / rescue, and ambulance)" and when appropriate, assist with the resolution of the citizen's emergency.
  • Provide the citizens of Greater Echols County with a "timely and accurate communications link (wireline) to Emergency Response Services (law enforcement, fire/rescue, and ambulance)" and when appropriate, assist with the resolution of the citizen's emergency.
  • Provide all local government Emergency Response Services in Lowndes County and Echols County with "complete, accurate, timely and quality" dispatch services.
  • Manage and operate the Public Safety Radio System at near 100% reliability

Training

All of our dispatchers undergo an extensive in house training program taught by our Training Officer. New dispatchers are monitored continuously until they reach certification level. Additionally, all dispatchers are required to attend the Peace Officers Standards and Training Counsel Basic Communications course within 6 months of their employment, receive CPR certification by the American Heart Association and become certified to provide Emergency Medical Dispatch Instructions as a class becomes available. Dispatchers receive a minimum of 48 hours of annual training per year and are required to re-certify annually. Overall, our dispatchers exceed the minimum required annual training hours.

Public Education

In order to better educate the public in what we do, we strive to stay active within the community. We are available to come into the schools go give presentations, participate in community wide events, and pair up with other public safety agencies during their community events. Additionally, once a year we hold an in-house event that consists of tours of the 911 Center and interaction with other emergency workers and their equipment. To set up a presentation or to get information on public education events, please contact us at 229-245-5246, Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Wireless

Wireless (cellular) phone calls and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls are becoming more and more prevalent in today's world. We now field dozens of wireless phone calls for almost every automobile accident that happens in the county where we used to only field 1 or 2. Luckily, today's wireless technologies are improving to keep up with this trend. Our Center is Phase II compliant and as each carrier becomes Phase II compliant we are ready and waiting to receive your calls.

What is Phase II? Phase II means that when you place a 911 call from your cell phone the GPS coordinates of your location are transmitted with that call to our 911 Center. If your carrier is not Phase II compliant or your phone does not have GPS capabilities, we simply receive the location of the tower you are calling off of and the phone number of your phone in case we need to return your call. It is always important to state your location when you call 911.

We have similar issues with VoIP. VoIP providers have been ordered to provide simple 911 service with their service. If this is not provided when you call 911 from you VoIP phone, we simply receive a phone number with no address information. As companies grow in their compliance efforts, we are starting to see VoIP calls coming in with full addresses and some even with GPS coordinates. This is a tremendous advance however, there is still a fault. VoIP providers require that you, the consumer, visit a website and enter your address information. The information you put in may be accurate by the county GIS maps and it may not. If it is not then it is just like not receiving any information at all. If you do have a VoIP service, we encourage you to do a test call to 911 from your VoIP phone to make sure that the information you have entered comes through correctly and your location is mapped correctly.