The Alachua Police Department prides itself in maintaining our own Communications Center; we operate 24 hours per day, 7 days per week and are staffed by Florida Department of Health certified Public Safety Telecommunicators (PSTs).

Our Communications Center is equipped with state-of-the-art technology to include computer aided dispatch with mapping and location query capabilities as well as industry leading radio consoles.  Our Communications Center also houses many robust databases to include National Crime Information Databases, Florida Crime Information Databases, and Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle Databases to assist in our course of work.

Our Communications Center receives an abundant amount of calls daily.  These calls range from calls requiring emergency services to non-emergency services, requests for information, records request inquiries, other agency requests and much more.  In addition to call taking, our PSTs are also tasked with dispatching calls for service and maintaining radio communications with all department personnel as well as carrying out various requests from Officers.  

The Alachua Police Department Communications Center is not a primary public safety answering point, therefore all 911 calls are received by the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office Combined Communications Center (CCC).  However, as a secondary public safety answering point, should a 911 call be placed to CCC in which a caller requires law enforcement response and is within the Alachua Police Department’s jurisdiction, the call is transferred to our Communications Center where one of our own PSTs assumes responsibility for the call.  As Florida Department of Health certified Public Safety Telecommunicators, our Communications Center staff are fully trained to handle all aspects of law enforcement dispatch while being the calm in the midst of the storm.

Questions or concerns regarding the Communications Center?  Contact Vanessa McDaniel, Communications Supervisor, at (386) 462-1396 or by email at vmcdaniel@alachuapd.org. 

Tips For Calling Emergency Services

When calling for emergency services you will be asked many questions. Answering questions does not delay a response. Be prepared to answer questions like:

• What is the address of the emergency?
• What is the nature of the emergency?
• What is your name?
• What is the telephone number you are calling from?

If you have to call emergency services here are some simple tips to follow:

• Stay calm and speak slowly
• Tell the call-taker what is wrong and where you need help
• Speak loud and clear when the call taker asks you questions
• Stay on the phone until the call taker tells you to hang up

Once the dispatcher has your location and the nature of the emergency they will dispatch units to help you. As the first responders are en route, the dispatcher will continue to ask you questions or provide you with further details over the phone. It may seem unnecessary, but the information is vital to first responders and the health and safety of those on scene.

Calling emergency services by mistake:

Stay on the phone if you call by mistake and tell the dispatcher that everything is alright. An officer may be dispatched to your location to confirm that everything is OK.

When to call the non-emergency number:

Some examples of when to call our non-emergency number at (386) 462-1396.

• Your house or car was broken into yesterday
• You need to add additional information to a report that was made earlier
• Your car was stolen sometime overnight or earlier in the day
• Someone stole your bike while you were at school

When to call 911:

Some examples of when to call 911.

• You have an active fire and need the fire department
• You need medical personnel for an emergency or non-emergency
• You were just involved in a vehicle accident and suspect injuries

Download our 911 Emergency Guide for your business. This guide will help employees and guests when needing to contact 911 for emergency services. 911 Emergency Guide - Business