DISPATCH

The Seminole Police Department manages Public Safety Radio Communications and emergency telephone services for all of the Reservations of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Responsibilities include information and emergency telephone calls, coordination of Police, Fire and Rescue personnel for events and incidents on and near the reservations, and the coordination of outside public safety departments on matters that impact the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Radio communications are accomplished by use of the State Wide Radio System (SLERs), the use of VHF Seminole Tribe radios, and radio partnerships with the counties we are located in.

Calls for service are answered and dispatched at one of the four Dispatch Centers located in Hollywood, Big Cypress, Immokalee and Brighton. Each center answers direct dialed phone calls for Police, Fire, and Rescue. In most cases, 9-1-1 calls are answered after a transfer to our centers from the various counties or cities. However Big Cypress serves as a PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) for Hendry County and 9-1-1 calls from our Tribal community homes are answered directly as this center. Cell phone calls to 9-1-1 and some internet phone services are directed to the nearest PSAP based upon the cellular tower signal and may not always be routed to Big Cypress.

The Communications Division is staffed by 26 full-time employees operating twenty four hours each day on four reservations. The staff handles an average of 11,000 calls for service each month, in addition to receiving and routing incoming telephone calls. Each dispatcher receives a wide variety of on-the-job training as well as nationally recognized training in Public Safety Telecommunications, Emergency Medical Dispatching (EMD), Fire Services Dispatching and other related courses. The EMD program is approved through the Fire Department’s Emergency Medical Director and aids call-takers when assisting callers during medically related incidents.