Crime & Safety

Local Dispatching Center Earns Prestigious Honor

The agency that dispatches calls for Manassas Park Fire and EMS has earned a prestigious honor, Prince William County Police announced this week.

The agency that dispatches calls for Manassas Park Fire and EMS has earned a prestigious honor, Prince William County Police announced this week.

 The Prince William County Public Safety Communications Center is now a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children partner, according to a press release issued by the county's police department.

 The center is the first agency in the Commonwealth of Virginia and only the 31st in the nation to earn such an honor, police said.

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 To become a partner, the agency had to meet the outlined policy and training requirements.   This included specialized training for each dispatcher, according to the release.

 The communications center adopted the American National Standards Institute’s approved Standard for Public Safety Telecommunicators When Responding to Calls of Missing, Abducted and Sexually Exploited Children. It is a reference for dispatchers who receive these type of calls, police said.

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Each year more than 200,000 children are reported missing. In 2010, some 850 children were reported missing to Prince William County Police.

Each stage of the case—from initial call to recovery—is a critical component of the investigation, police said.

 The Prince William County Public Safety Communications Center began dispatching calls for Manassas Park Fire and EMS about one year ago.

 Dispatchers employed by the city of Manassas Park used to handle fire and EMS calls. They still handle Manassas Park Police calls.

Having Prince William County dispatch fire and EMS calls has shorten response times, former Manassas Park Fire Chief John O’Neal said in an earlier report.

 This is because Prince William County has call takers and dispatchers.  So, while the call taker is still on the phone, a dispatcher can already be contacting the needed personnel, he said.

Under the former system, a city dispatcher would have to get all the information, and then dispatch the call. In some cases, the dispatcher would have to make several calls to different agencies, he said.

 In addition to dispatching Manassas Park calls and calls for Prince William County Police, Fire, Rescue and EMS and the park authority park rangers,  the communications center also handles calls for: The city of Manassas Fire and EMS and the towns of Dumfries, Haymarket and Occoquan.


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