911 Calls
About one million calls per year
Ramsey County Emergency Communications Center (RCECC) handles about a million calls per year, more than any other 911 Public Safety Answering Point in Minnesota. Calls to RCECC are handled in two stages. A call taker answers the phone, takes the caller's information and enters it into the computer. This allows a dispatcher to immediately read the information and coordinate responders. The dispatcher talks to responders on the radio, allowing the call taker to continue gathering vital information.
Above is the total number of calls for the last closed reporting period, including incoming 911 emergencies, incoming non-emergency or administrative calls and outgoing non-emergency or administrative calls. The chart on the right shows how many of these calls were handled each month.
More non-emergency calls than emergency
The dark blue bars represent emergency calls, while the
light blue represent non-emergencies.
Above is the average wait time 911 callers experienced during the last closed reporting period. The chart shows the average emergency call wait time by month.
Above is the total number of incoming 911 emergency calls for the last closed reporting period. The chart on the right shows how many of these calls were received each month.
Call if you can; text if you can't
Ramsey County began using Text-to-911 in December 2017, allowing citizens to seek emergency assistance using text messages from data-enabled phones.
Texting is a good option for individuals with a speech or hearing impairment or those in an environment where they may not be able to speak freely.
Calling is still the best way to get help, however. Text (SMS) messages have no priority routing like 911 voice calls, so there are no guarantees of prompt delivery to 911 or responses to the caller, and don't provide reliable location information. Character limitations and auto-correct can also make communication difficult.
Telecommunicators
Once hired, Ramsey County 911 Telecommunicators attend an in-house academy for four weeks to learn the basics of answering calls for service. They then have four to six weeks of one-on-one training while answering real calls. Experienced telecommunicators can become police or fire dispatchers. This requires an additional four-day course and seven more weeks of one-on-one training.
Visit the Emergency Communications page to learn about a career in telecommunications.