The Phoenix Police Communications Bureau is comprised of over 265 civilian
employees that work out of two separate 24/7 telecommunications centers. The
original center is housed at Phoenix Police Headquarters, located at 620 W.
Washington Street, while the second center shares a building with the Property
Management Bureau at 100 E. Elwood Street.
In the year 2018, the Phoenix Police Communications Bureau answered just over
2 million incoming calls, which averages out to just over 5,700 calls per day. Both centers answer emergency calls for service on 9-1-1 lines, as well as, calls on the
City of Phoenix Non-Emergency line, called Crime Stop, at (602) 262-6151.
Phoenix Police Communications Operators are assigned to one of two functions
each day: answering calls or dispatching officers. During an eight to ten hour shift of
processing calls, a Communications Operator will potentially answer on average
anywhere between 110-150 calls in total between the 9-1-1 and Crime Stop lines. If
a caller needs assistance with a fire or medical emergency, the call is transferred to
the Phoenix Fire Regional Communications Center. If the call requires a police
response, the Communications Operator asks the necessary questions and enters a
call for service.
Once a call for police service is entered, the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system
routes the call to another Communications Operator who is working as a dispatcher.
What this means is when you call 9-1-1 or Crime Stop, the Communications
Operator you speak with is not the person dispatching your call to responding officers, and they are not the
person physically responding to your call; this is why answering the call taker's
questions does not delay an officer's response time.
Each of the city's seven precincts is assigned a dispatcher, who is in constant
communication with the officers in a designated area of the city. The dispatchers for
these precincts are responsible for sending calls for service out to available officers
and maintaining an accurate status of where officers are at all times. In addition to
the precinct dispatchers, there are dispatchers available to handle emergency
incidents, information requests from officers, and any additional radio traffic as
situations require it.
Typical Shift Hours:
Shift 1 – 0500-1500
Shift 2 – 0930-1930,
1445-0045
Shift 3 – 1915-0515
