Working in a Communications Centre

What do Police Communicators do?

Police Communicators deal with calls about burglaries, family violence, disputes, fights, crashes, armed robberies, search and rescues, homicides, dangerous driving, missing children, thefts - and many other incidents. Communicators find out what's happening and where, decide on the right Police response, enter the details into the computer system and send the information through to Police Dispatchers who are responsible for getting police units on the way to the incident.

We'd like to hear from you if you're interested in becoming a Police Communicator.

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Meet some of our Communications Centre staff

Click here to view profiles of Communications Centre staff.

Watch Communications Centre staff talking about real calls.

The 111 website has video and audio recordings of Communications Centre staff talking about their experiences with real calls.
Listen to Call 1.

Further information

You can find further information about becoming a Police Communicator and working at a Communications Centre can be found on the 111 website.

You can also learn about Communications Centre technology and how technology has changed since the 1960s.

What do Police Dispatchers do?

Dispatchers are an integral part of the Communications Centre team. Their primary role is to help coordinate the Police response to an emergency.

Dispatchers need to communicate clearly and keep cool and calm, often in emergency situations where the circumstances can change very quickly.

Via the Police radio system, Dispatchers liaise directly with Police units and provide them with specific details about the incident.

Dispatchers keep Police officers up-to-date with relevant information about the emergency, so when Police units arrive, the officers are in a good position to know what they are dealing with.

Dispatchers receive ongoing updates about the incident on the Police computer system from the Communicator who is on the phone with the person making the 111 call. The Dispatcher then passes the details on to the Police units.

Dispatchers take a range of factors into account when coordinating the Police response, including:

safeguarding life and property (of the public and responding Police officers);
maintaining law and order;
coordinating activities of other services (e.g. Fire and/or Ambulance);

Information about a 111 emergency goes through the following steps:

Using modern, computer-based mapping technology and aerial maps, Dispatchers can accurately direct Police to the scene.

The majority of Dispatchers have worked as Communicators and receive specialist training and mentoring to become Dispatchers. Some Dispatchers are also trained Police Officers.