Communications (Dispatch)

Lieutenant Gary Gribbons

The Sheriff's County-Wide Public Safety Communications System, commonly known as the "Dispatch Center," is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Dispatchers are professionally trained to handle emergency situations. Calls are received on fourteen regular lines and nine 9-1-1 emergency lines. In addition to dispatching calls for the Sheriff's Office, the "Dispatch Center" also serves eleven fire departments and nine other police agencies throughout the county.

Lieutenant Gary Gribbons supervises this division of the Sheriff's Office. Generally, three or four dispatchers work each shift. Dispatchers answer the phones, record pertinent information, send assistance where required, track which units are sent where, and respond to field unit requests such as checking warrants, running a license registration, dispatching additional help, contacting a hospital or Life Flight, and a myriad of other requests. The dispatchers are often the "lifeline" for units in the field.

The Dispatch Center is the emergency notification center for the Red Cross, Geauga County Dog Warden, Geauga County Highway Department, and Geauga Regional Hospital Security, Geauga County Humane Society, Geauga County Game Warden and Punderson State Park Rangers.

All dispatchers are APCO (Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials) EMD (Emergency Medical Dispatch) Certified as well as CPR and AED Certified. All dispatchers have attended a 40-hour APCO Basic Telecommunicator Course. Continuing education and training courses are attended by dispatchers throughout the year; this enables the dispatchers to keep current on their certifications. Geauga County Sheriff's dispatchers have attended training in various areas including 9-1-1 liability, suicide intervention, and hostage negotiations.

Also trained as Firefighters, EMT's, and Police Officers, several dispatchers are involved in township fire and police agencies.

Dispatching

*Note: Bainbridge, Chardon, and Middlefield also have Dispatch Centers; we serve as a secondary.

We dispatch for the following departments:

Also, calls to the County Highway Department are made through our Dispatch Center. We handle radio traffic for the Coroner's Office and the Game Warden; however, initial contact is made by telephone.