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Public Safety Department News

The Des Peres Department of Public Safety is proud to announce that, as of December 1st, all dispatching related to Fire and Emergency Medical Services will be contracted through Central County E-911 Dispatch Center. The adoption of this dispatching service will provide a more efficient manner in which emergency information is received by the caller and then relayed to our Fire and EMS personnel. With state-of-the-art equipment, Central County Dispatch is able to alert emergency personnel of an incoming emergency call while still receiving and entering important information. This pre-alert system, along with vehicle mounted computers, equipped with continuous information updates and turn-by-turn GPS, should better prepare responding crews while reducing response times.

Another advantage to this new system is the availability of EMD (Emergency Medical Dispatch). In the event of a medical emergency, an EMD certified dispatcher is able to triage the in-coming request for medical services to determine the level of response (no response, non-emergency transport, emergency transport) based on the information received. The EMD (if necessary) can begin providing pre-arrival instructions to the caller, so they can immediately help the victim. Central County’s EMDs are able to remain on the telephone line until emergency services arrive.

When it comes to large-scale incidents, such as fires, vehicle accidents with multiple patients, and Hazardous Material incidents, the Department of Public Safety relies on mutual aid from other area departments. Because Central County dispatches for several of the surrounding departments, we will also receive more seamless mutual aid responses.

All of these new resources will ultimately provide an improved level of service to our residents and employees. Residents will continue to call 911 for emergencies and 314-835-6200 for non emergency calls. The city’s communication center will continue as the primary answering point for all calls and continue to dispatch police services. The only change that will occur is when a call requires a fire or an emergency medical response, the caller will be transferred within seconds to Central County Dispatch. During this transfer, the original Des Peres Dispatcher will remain on the line and relay important information to police units that will also respond to all fire and emergency medical calls.