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The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center provides dispatch services for unincorporated metro and rural areas
of Arapahoe County, the cities and towns of Centennial, Cherry Hills Village, Bow Mar, Columbine Valley, Foxfield, Byers,
Deertrail, Cherry Creek Park Rangers, South Suburban Park Rangers and specialized task force teams. The center also dispatches
fire and Emergency Medical Services for two rural volunteer fire departments.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office Communications Section is the primary answering point for 9-1-1 emergency telephone calls.
In 2005, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office communications center handled over 332,000 telephone calls requesting service.
More than 61,000 of those calls were 9-1-1 calls. Cell phone use continues to keep the call load heavy, often resulting in
multiple phone calls on single events such as accidents. In 2005, 9-1-1 calls into the communications center increased by
more than ten percent (10%) over 2004.
A manager, six shift supervisors and twenty communications technicians staff the center. Public Safety dispatching has evolved
into a very technical position, as more services are becoming computer oriented. Communications Technicians within the Arapahoe
County Sheriff’s Office utilize multi-tasking skills by monitoring up to six computer monitors, while answering incoming phone
calls and transmitting over the radio, simultaneously.New technologies such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are becoming more available and present new challenges for the
communications center.
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