COMMUNICATIONS
Communications Division
THE NUMBER THAT CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE
When the public calls for the assistance they have the expectation of and the right to have their call handled in a professional and expedient manner regardless of where they are located in Okeechobee County. With this in mind, the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office has been working to improve its communications center.
When you call 911 in Okeechobee County, your call rings in our Dispatch Center, where one of our communications officers personally picks up. Here at the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office, we dispatch Sheriff's Office Deputies, EMS, and Fire Rescue. The dispatcher will ask you to determine exactly what is occurring so that we can help meet your emergency questions to needs in the best way possible.
These calls are answered immediately, with no exceptions! Each year, the Dispatch Center receives approximately 32,000 non-emergency calls and an average of 16,000 + 911 calls. All calls for service on a non-emergency line will be answered, "Sheriff's Office." During periods of high volume calls, a non-emergency line may be answered, "Sheriff's Office, do you have an emergency?" If the caller advises, "Yes", then the call is handled immediately. If the caller's response is, "No", the caller will be advised to please hold. Please do not hang up! Your call will be answered in the order it was received.
Why do they ask so many questions when I call 911?
Asking questions enables the communications officer to determine the type of activity the deputy will be responding to on that particular call. Explicit questions will be asked by the communications officer resulting in specific answers to pass on to the responding officer so that they are well informed of the situation. In order to expedite the call, the caller will be asked the following questions:
Where did the incident occur?
This is necessary to determine the physical location of the incident.
Where are you located?
This is necessary in order for the deputy to make contact with the caller unless otherwise advised.
What is your name and phone number?
This is necessary in the event that additional information is needed or if somehow the call is dropped.
Our goal is to serve the public to the best of our ability.
