9‐1‐1 Communications

The Westfield Police Department operates a fully functional, state-of-the art 9-1-1 Police-Fire-EMS dispatch center which serves the Town of Westfield, a suburban municipality located in central Union County with a land area of 6.74 square miles and a population of 30,316 (based on the 2010 census count).

The Westfield Police Department’s 9-1-1 Police-Fire-EMS dispatch center serves as both a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) – the point of first reception of a 9-1-1 call – and a Public Safety Dispatch Point (PSDP) – a location which provides dispatch services for one (1) or more public safety agencies.  

The Westfield Police Department provides full dispatch services for all of the Town of Westfield’s public safety agencies – the Westfield Police Department; Westfield Fire Department; and Westfield Volunteer Rescue Squad.  It also serves as the after-hours point-of-contact for the Westfield Department of Public Works and Westfield Regional Health Department, which provides local public health and environmental health services to seven (7) other municipalities: Chatham Borough, Fanwood, Garwood, Mountainside, New Providence, Roselle Park and Summit  

The Westfield Police Department’s 9-1-1- Police-Fire-EMS dispatch center has “direct dispatch” capabilities, which means both 9-1-1 call answering and public safety dispatching are performed by personnel assigned to the PSAP.

All callers are provided with pre-arrival instructions utilizing Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) Guidecards approved by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, Office of Emergency Medical Services.

Call-taker positions are sufficiently staffed by dispatchers and sworn police officers who have completed both Public Safety Telecommunicator and Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) basic training courses approved by the New Jersey State 9-1-1 Commission – a total of nine (9) days of state-mandated training, thus certifying them as qualified by the New Jersey Officer of Emergency Telecommunications Services (OETS) on the basis provided in N.J.A.C. 17:24-2.2 (PSAP: required and recommended staffing).

The Westfield Police Department currently employs six (6) full-time civilian 9-1-1 Police-Fire-EMS dispatchers, who are assigned to four (4) 10-hour daily tours of duty.  Dispatcher tours of duty are uniquely designed to overlap during peak hours of activity to increase efficiency.

The Westfield Police Department utilizes sworn police officers in addition to or as substitutes for dispatchers, when necessary.  There are currently a total of twenty-seven (27) police officers and police supervisors who are certified as qualified by OETS.

The Westfield Police Department’s 9-1-1 Police-Fire-EMS Center operates under the direction of a sworn police supervisor at all times.

All certified personnel are required to complete annual in-service training during each year of service following completion of the basic training courses, which consists of an 8-hour program approved by OETS designed to address recent technical developments and improve the provision of 9-1-1 services.

A sworn police supervisor and the Information Technology (IT) Technician are currently certified by the National Emergency Communications Institute (NECI) as both 9-1-1 and EMD Instructors.  This has qualified them to train and certify other personnel as call-takers and to conduct annual mandated in-service training in-house at significantly reduced costs.

In total, the Westfield Police Department’s 9-1-1 Police Fire-EMS dispatch center processed a total of 33,815 calls for service in 2020.  This included a total of 5,620 9-1-1 calls.