Welcome to the
Rehoboth Beach
communications center!!
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Life-threatening emergencies: Dial 9-1-1
For non-emergencies and information: (302) 227-2577
The Rehoboth Beach 9-1-1 Center is responsible for the handling of all calls for Police, Fire, and Rescue service in the Rehoboth area. This section is staffed by highly trained civilian employees 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Police Department employs 9 full-time telecommunications operators on a year round basis.
All 9-1-1 calls made in the Rehoboth area, originating with a 226 or 227 exchange, are answered at the Rehoboth Beach 9-1-1 Center. The telecommunications operators are responsible for processing incoming emergency and non-emergency calls for service, dispatch city police, fire department, and rescue personnel. Fire and rescue services in the entire Rehoboth area are dispatched from the Rehoboth Beach 9-1-1 Center. If you need police assistance, a police officer will also be dispatched to assist you at your location, however, if you are calling outside of the corporate limits of the city, your call will be immediately transferred to the Delaware State Police to assist you.
9-1-1 should only be used for an emergency, which requires an immediate response. If you need to reach the Police Department for a non-emergency call, please call (302) 227-2577.
What is
an emergency?
Call 9-1-1
Any serious medical problem (bleeding, seizures, chest pain, etc.)
Any type of fire.
Crimes in progress (burglary, robbery, prowlers, etc.)
Any life-threatening condition (fights, people with weapons, etc.)
What is
not an emergency?
Call (302) 227-2577
Parking complaints.
Barking dogs.
Past occurred crimes where the offender is no longer on scene.
What happens to my call?
For many people, their first and sometimes only contact with the police is a telephone call answered by a dispatcher, which means that the department's entire reputation may well rest on the person in that job. Some have suggested that the telephone call for police service is the single most critical point in the entire criminal justice system. It is the dispatcher who typically has the first contact with the citizen, and the decisions that they make can dictate the entire department's response. The dispatcher's job is to listen to the information offered by the caller, ask appropriate questions to discover the true nature of the call, assess the information quickly, and then make a decision about how to field the call. The pressures on dispatchers are enormous. In discussing the "forgotten victim" researchers have compared the occupational stress of the dispatcher to the stress suffered by air traffic controllers. Within the pressure imposed by time, dispatchers must make critical decisions, direct the activities of numerous police units, receive and assimilate a variety of information, and then communicate effectively with police officers and citizens.
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L to R: Chief Keith
Banks, Wilson Merchant, Rachel Campbell, Daniel Mitchell, Tammy Ketterman, |
Tips for using 9-1-1
Try to talk in a voice that can be understood by the 9-1-1 dispatcher.
When describing someone or something, get as much information as possible. EXAMPLE: (Person) sex, race, clothing description, height, weight, hair style, age. (Vehicle) make, model, color, body style, license number,
If you do not want your name given out over the air tell the 9-1-1 dispatcher.
Be patient and don't get upset with the 9-1-1 dispatcher. Just because they are talking to you, does not mean help is not on the way. Information is entered into a computer and may be dispatched by another operator. The officers may arrive while you are still talking to the dispatcher.
If you call from a pay phone and you want emergency personnel at a specific address, give the address, or the emergency personnel will respond to the location of the pay phone.
If the emergency is so severe that you can only dial 9-1-1, but not talk, the Police will respond to the address that the 9-1-1 phone call came from without you talking or giving the address.
9-1-1 is the main phone number to contact emergency personnel. When you need emergency personnel use 9-1-1. There are numbers in the phone book that are for specific departments within the various emergency agencies, these are not emergency numbers.
9-1-1 calls from a pay phone do not require a coin.
How does 9-1-1 Work?
When 9-1-1 receives a call, the system provides the operator with the name of the subscriber, address, telephone number, proper jurisdiction for police, fire or ambulance.
You can test (with prior permission of the Police department) what information is displayed from your home if a 9-1-1 call would be placed. This would allow you to verify that the correct information is being displayed in the case of an emergency. You must call (302) 227-2577 to schedule this test. DO NOT call 9-1-1 and request your information be tested without prior approval.
How are 9-1-1 calls prioritized?
Priority 1: Immediate response: Dispatched as soon as possible to closest available unit, a nearby unit on lower priority call can be broken free. Examples would be a danger to human life or property (emergency), perpetrators at scene or still in area, evidence may be destroyed and magnitude of incident.
Priority 2: Delayed response: requiring presence of police officer but not an immediate response, quality of police service will not decrease due to delay, may be "stacked" until appropriate police unit is available, or be handled over the telephone.
Why do the operators ask questions that they already have answers to?
Regardless of the information displayed on the screen, the 9-1-1 operator has to confirm that it has not changed.
A digital recording system allows immediate playback of all phone and radio transmissions coming into the communications center - allowing call takers to quickly replay messages whenever necessary.
In addition, a Telephone Device for the Deaf (TDD) is used to assist hearing-impaired callers.
Some Don'ts for 9-1-1
Never program 9-1-1 into a memory location or "speed dial". It's the one number you'll probably never forget, but when this number is in memory, we get accidental calls from people pushing the wrong button.
Never call 9-1-1 and just hang up. Our policy on "hang-up" calls is to call back and attempt to verify if there is an emergency. If we cannot verify to our satisfaction that everything is all right, we will send a police officer to the indicated address. This is to ensure that a person who is incapacitated can receive help without having to talk on the phone. Unfortunately, many "hang-up" calls are false, and we have wasted police manpower and resources to respond to them. False calls cost you money, and tie up police officers who are needed on other calls.
Cellular Phone Users
If you dial 9-1-1 from a cellular phone, please remember: Stay calm. We will not receive location or phone number information on a cellular call, and what you tell us is the only information we will have to determine how to respond.
Know where you are. We need location information from you, and we have to determine if you are within our police jurisdiction. If you are not, we will have to transfer your call.
Know your mobile number. We will ask for it, in case the call is disconnected, and we have to call you back for more information. (Leave your phone "on" so we can call you back.)
Try to use the seven-digit number for the agency you are calling if your call is not extremely urgent (Remember, our number is 227-2577). Sometimes this can be faster than using 9-1-1, because you directly reach the agency you need, without a call having to be transferred.
It is a good idea to program the seven-digit numbers for all law enforcement agencies in your travel area in your phone, if it is equipped with a memory. (And remember, never program 9-1-1 into a memory location or "speed dial.")
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Dispatch Supervisor Dawn Lynch |
Dispatcher Rachel Campbell |
National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch
National Emergency Number Association
Last Updated: November 10, 2006
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