PUEBLO POLICE AND FIRE COMMUNICATIONS CENTER

The Pueblo Police and Fire Communications Center is located in the upstairs portion of the original police department annex building at 150 Central Main Street in downtown Pueblo.

To ensure that the Communications Center runs efficiently, it is staffed with a Dispatch Supervisor, three Senior Emergency Services Dispatchers, twenty Emergency Services Dispatchers, along with part-time call takers. These employees provide dispatching services and support for the Pueblo Police Department and the Pueblo Fire Department. Every year, the Pueblo 911 Communications Center dispatches over 130,000 calls for service. Emergency Service Dispatchers provide supplemental communication service for many city departments in addition to providing mutual aid for other local agencies including Pueblo Animal Services, Pueblo County Sheriff, Colorado State Patrol, and Pueblo Rural Fire Department, as well as others.

Classroom and on-the-job training is provided to each dispatch trainee starting on their date of hire. This intensive training includes certification for CPR, Emergency Medical Dispatching (EMD), as well as training in computer functions associated with the Colorado Crime Information Center (CCIC) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).

Emergency Medical Dispatch

Firefighters or ambulance personnel aren’t always the first units on the scene of a medial emergency - a dispatcher can be there within milliseconds, by phone, providing medical information and pre-arrival instructions to the caller. That's the concept behind Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD).

The most important part of the EMD program involves providing pre-arrival instructions to the caller so they can immediately begin to help the victim. The level of telephone assistance can vary from simple advice needed for a minor injury to complete instructions on performing CPR. This is the most visible component of EMD and, if you're the victim, perhaps the most valuable feature. Pre-arrival instructions are provided on flip cards, arranged so the dispatcher can question the caller and, based on the answers, quickly go the card that contains the correct advice, instructions, and related information.

Each year, Emergency Medical Dispatchers of the Pueblo Police Department performed close to 2,000 EMD’s, many of those listed as “lifesaving” calls. An EMD “save” means that the dispatcher provided critical pre-arrival instructions that resulted in a life being prolonged or saved until a higher tier of medically trained personnel arrived on scene.

While EMD’s are often the most stressful part of the job,
they can also be the most rewarding.