Communications 

Communications Staff

The New Albany Communications Division provides effective, efficient service to all citizens in their time of need, ensures a safe environment for officers while maintaining professional conduct and is committed to performing to the best of their abilities at all times.  The Communications Center currently is staffed by four full-time dispatchers, two part-time dispatchers and one supervisor.  They are trained and committed to assist citizens in solving many of their problems.  Dispatchers evaluate problems and send an officer when necessary or refer callers to the proper agency.  The dispatchers are responsible for answering three emergency lines, two administrative lines and two 9-1-1 lines.  Dispatchers field calls that include animal complaints, residential and commercial alarm drops, crimes in progress, public disturbances, traffic complaints, automobile crashes and fire and medical emergencies.

Communications Responsibilities

Along with receiving phone calls, the dispatchers of the New Albany Police Department are also responsible for knowing the locations of at least three police cars per shift and logging each officer’s activities daily in the computer aided dispatch (CAD) system.  This information includes dispatch, arrive-on-scene times, disposition and in-depth information on each call.  State of Ohio Law Enforcement Data System (LEADS), constantly used by the dispatch center, has capabilities of running license plates, driver’s license information, VIN information, and also has the ability to check for wanted persons, stolen articles or vehicles.  The dispatchers are also responsible for disseminating pertinent information back to the officers in a timely manner.  In addition to checking wanted, missing and stolen files, the dispatcher is capable of and responsible for entering warrants, protection orders, missing persons, stolen vehicles, stolen license plates, stolen guns and stolen articles into the LEADS and National Crime Information Center (NCIC) computer systems.  The dispatcher is responsible for logging all entries made into the LEADS and NCIC systems in a written journal in addition to keeping organized hard copy files of all entries.

The dispatcher is also required to check persons through the national Computerized Criminal History (CCH) files.  Every search performed must be accurately logged, and a valid reason for each search must be listed.  The CCH files assist police personnel in investigative leads and are crucial for officer safety.  All dispatchers of the New Albany Police Department are State of Ohio Notary Publics and their Notary services are available to the public, free of charge, 24 hours a day.  Another duty of the dispatcher is that of Deputy Clerk of Courts.  When a citizen or an officer finds it necessary to sign a warrant for the arrest of an individual, the Deputy Clerk is required to witness the party's swearing of the facts of the warrant to be true, and to witness their signing of the warrant before they imprint the seal of the court on the document.

Dispatchers are required to enter all offense/accident reports, arrests and citations into the Records Management System (RMS).  These reports are then sent monthly to the State of Ohio for crime statistics.  After the offense and accident reports are entered in the RMS, the Communications Supervisor places them on the Village of New Albany web site for public access.

Communications Center

The new Communications Center, located at 50 Village Hall Road, is a state-of-the-art center.  It includes two fully functional dispatch stations and one call-taker station if needed.  Both dispatch stations are equipped with CAD (computer aided dispatch system) and RMS (records management system).  Each station is also equipped with up to date 9-1-1 phone lines and state-of-the-art phone systems.  The dispatch center also has electronic video monitoring/control of the police facility.