LAPD Dispatch Centers Open House

[Radio_Lady]

WHEN/ WHERE:

Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Valley Communications Dispatch Center (VCDC)
23001 Roscoe Boulevard
West Hills, California 91304

and

Friday, April 15, 2011
Metropolitan Communications Dispatch Center (MCDC)
100 North Los Angeles Street
Los Angeles, California 90012

WHY: National Dispatcher’s Week will be observed from April 10, 2011
through April 15, 2011. The annual event, established in 1992 by
President George H. Bush, honors police dispatchers nationwide for
providing vital emergency services in their respective communities.

LAPD dispatchers, known as Police Service Representatives (PSRs), are
an integral part of the public safety net in Los Angeles. They fulfill
dual roles as police dispatchers and 9-1-1 Operators. In 2010, PSRs
provided all dispatching services for LAPD officers and answered 3.9
million calls for police service from the public.

LAPD’s state-of-the-art dispatch center will offer guided open-house
tours for officers’, city employees, members of the media and the
general public. The tours will be conducted all-day and well into the
evening. Refreshments will be provided.

In addition, the Chief of Police, Charlie Beck, will be present during
the 2:00 PM roll call at the VCDC Open House on April 13th and at the
MCDC Open House on April 15th to personally honor the PSRs for their
hard work and commitment to the safety of our police officers and the
residents in the City of Los Angeles.

Tour reservation requests and/or questions may be directed to PSRs
Angela Rodriguez or Jenelle Williams in the Community Relations Unit
at (213) 978-6510 or (213) 978-6511.

 

[PJaxx]

So, I live near Vermont Avenue & Beverly Boulevard, but it seems to be in Olympic Division, though it used to be in Rampart Division. If I dial 911 are my calls answered at the Metropolitan Dispatch Center 3 miles away, or the Valley Dispatch Center 30 miles away?

I would like to visit the place where my call would be handled from. Would they alllow cameras and scanners inside?

WHEN/ WHERE:

Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Valley Communications Dispatch Center (VCDC)
23001 Roscoe Boulevard
West Hills, California 91304

and

Friday, April 15, 2011
Metropolitan Communications Dispatch Center (MCDC)
100 North Los Angeles Street
Los Angeles, California 90012

 

[LAflyer]

Thanks for sharing the information.

Good opportunity for those that would like a peak behind the scenes.

 

[Powerade]

So, I live near Vermont Avenue & Beverly Boulevard, but it seems to be in Olympic Division, though it used to be in Rampart Division. If I dial 911 are my calls answered at the Metropolitan Dispatch Center 3 miles away, or the Valley Dispatch Center 30 miles away?

I would like to visit the place where my call would be handled from. Would they alllow cameras and scanners inside?

If you are not with the media,you may run into some issues with snapping pics or using the cell phone .Never the less; I think that this would be a good time to NOT pack the scanner.

 

[KMA367]

Since you asked

So, I live near Vermont Avenue & Beverly Boulevard, but it seems to be in Olympic Division, though it used to be in Rampart Division. If I dial 911 are my calls answered at the Metropolitan Dispatch Center 3 miles away, or the Valley Dispatch Center 30 miles away?

Get ready for several "IF's" in my answer, but we'll dispose of one right away by assuming you're calling from a landline rather than a cellphone. Beverly Blvd from Normandie to Virgil is the border between Olympic (in West Bureau) and Rampart (in Central Bureau). If you're calling 9-1-1 from south of Beverly, the phone company knows you're in Olympic Div, and automagically routes your call to the Valley Dispatch Center, since they handle West and Valley Bureaus. If you're calling from north of Beverly, the call will go to the Metro Dispatch Center, since Rampart is in Central Bureau. So the VCDC is where your call would usually be answered. If all the 9-1-1 operators there are busy, it's immediately rolled over to the Metropolitan Dispatch Center. And if THEY are all busy, it goes to any available calltaker (non-emergency lines, auxiliary, or Spanish-line operators) at either place. Failing that, you get put in the "hold" queue

So you're calling from south of Beverly and it goes to the Valley Dispatch Center, way out beyond Topanga Canyon & Roscoe. After you tell the 9-1-1 operator what the problem is, he or she is supposed to ask you exactly where the incident is happening (is it at your location? across the street?, two blocks away?). She will then enter the incident location, and if it hasn't already, the CAD will display the division and reporting district and give her a list of recommended available units to send. Normally she would select the first unit on the list, e.g. 21A57 on this call...

I would like to visit the place where my call would be handled from.

We're now part of the way there. But,

Regardless of whether the incident is at your house in Olympic Div or a block north in Rampart, if it's an urgent or emergency call she'll make the initial voice broadcast usually while she's still on the phone with you. Then she'll beam it to the appropriate division's RTO whether it's routine or emergency. Assuming it is at your address, the whole thing will be handled from the Valley. But if it's a Rampart occurrence, once she's made the initial broadcast and sent the call to the Rampart RTO (downtown), from then on it's handled by the Metro Dispatch Center. All the CAD data - calls, cars, tac freq availability, etc - is shared between the two centers in real time.

Would they alllow cameras and scanners inside?

Cameras maybe, though the closest you're likely to get is a glass-walled mezzanine viewing area above the dispatch floor. I don't think a scanner would be of any real use, and probably be more of a distraction from the tour goings-on. You could call those Community Relations people and ask them.

[size=+1] "Each work station has SIX screens now" [/size]​

.

[size=+1] 1931 - Present [/size]​

 

[spock00]

I called and they said we can take pictures from the lower level. I wouldn't bring a scanner but she didn't say it wasn't allowed.
I plan on heading to the Valley center tomorrow afternoon.

 

[PJaxx]

If you are not with the media,you may run into some issues with snapping pics or using the cell phone .Never the less; I think that this would be a good time to NOT pack the scanner.

I was wondering about that too, but it looks like spock00 got the straight scoop from them

I called and they said we can take pictures from the lower level. I wouldn't bring a scanner but she didn't say it wasn't allowed.
I plan on heading to the Valley center tomorrow afternoon.

Good news, Mr Spock!. Despite the longer drive, I'm going to the Valley too. Parking downtown can be awfully hard to find, and expensive when you do!! I'll leave my scanner in the car and enjoy it in real life.

If it's real good, I may try going to the MCDS on Friday too, and see the difference.

Thank yous to Radio_Lady and KMA367 for all the advance information.

 

[spock00]

I was wondering about that too, but it looks like spock00 got the straight scoop from them



Good news, Mr Spock!. Despite the longer drive, I'm going to the Valley too. Parking downtown can be awfully hard to find, and expensive when you do!! I'll leave my scanner in the car and enjoy it in real life.

If it's real good, I may try going to the MCDS on Friday too, and see the difference.

Thank yous to Radio_Lady and KMA367 for all the advance information.

Yep they (the contact people) were very helpful. We can't take up close pics of the consoles or anything like that but that makes sense.

Live long and prosper.

 

[PJaxx]

2 more little questions please

In the first picture, what is the meaning of the extra letters and numbers with "21A57" and the other unit numbers? And in the second one, what is each screen used for?

 

[scannerfreak]

Guys, please do not quote or re-post the picture. It's there anyone can go back and look at it

 

[KMA367]

In the first picture, what is the meaning of the extra letters and numbers with "21A57" and the other unit numbers? And in the second one, what is each screen used for?

I never worked at the new dispatch centers, and certainly not with the new CAD system, but it's my understanding that in the complete unit number "B21A57-W3," the letter "B" indicates that in the event of a Department Mobilization (12 hour shifts for everybody, no days off) this unit is pre-designated to work the B-watch, 1800-0600. The "A" watch in a mobilization is 0600-1800. The "W3" stands for Watch 3, which I guess is roughly the equivalent of old "morning watch" - the graveyard shift. I also wasn't there when LAPD went from plain old 8-hour days to the 9, 10,and 12-hour watches.

The six screens, from left to right appear to be

• The Orion Mapstar location mapping screen.
• Telephone controls interface
• Units status and active/pending calls screen (I don't have a copy)
• Incident detail screen - same as Dispatch Incident in post #5
• Radio channel select screen This happens to be for Pacific Div RTO
• (not currently in use)

Some of those I'm not absolutely sure about, but I believe they're correct.

 

[LAflyer]

I notice on the Radio Channel Select screen - "TAC-1 analog" is still listed.

Do they still have this? I cant recall last time I heard any activity on it.

 

[KMA367]

I notice on the Radio Channel Select screen - "TAC-1 analog" is still listed.

Do they still have this? I cant recall last time I heard any activity on it.

The city still has it, but it got unplugged for hotshots in October of 2007, and never came back. Either that screenshot is old (I got it more than a year ago), or else they've just never deleted it from their screen. Depending on call type and the location, the magic voodoo machine automatically selects the predesignated frequencies, though the RTO can add or remove whatever he/she has some need to.

Take a look at this (pre-2004) version: http://harrymarnell.net/images/zRTO-Centracom-Assistance.jpg It's for a "1-CENT ASSIST" (Officer Needs Assistance call in Central). The freqs in white, and shown in the groups, have been MultiSelected, and those in blue haven't.

Notice too that this was before each division had its own dispatch frequency, though the plan was already afoot: CTD shared Central's frequency, but would soon take old Central Bureau Tac 3, Northeast was with Rampart but would get CTAC4, and Newton was with Hollenbeck, soon to get CTAC5. Those old permanent pairings had existed since 1981/82 when LAPD went to UHF, but had only 12 dispatch freqs for 18 patrol and 4 traffic divisions. Only Hollywood and 77th St had freqs to themselves. When TV channel 16 became available, and then digital happened, they got more frequencies than they (now) have enough operators to operate! Depending on staffing and workload, the first to be tied are always the four Traffic Divisions which get patched with a patrol division within their bureau.

 

[spock00]

Yep they (the contact people) were very helpful. We can't take up close pics of the consoles or anything like that but that makes sense.

Live long and prosper.

Had a great time yesterday at the Valley Dispatch center!
We had a brief (15 min) orientation with the guide (who is a dispatcher).
She was impressed with our knowledge about their channels, channel use and technology used.
After that we went down to the bottom level (the dispatch room) and got to listen to my home area being dispatched (North Hollywood) and chit chat with the dispatcher for that division in between calls.
It was pretty quiet (no code 3 calls in my area).
The 6 computer screen technology is very impressive. One screen had an area map (NHWD) Orion Mapstar. The next screen had the all NHWD street names. The next screen had all the on duty units status and active/pending calls screen for that (NHWD) area. The next screen was the Radio channel select screen (TAC-1 analog was not there just Hotshots in that spot). The next screen was the Incident detail screen. The last screen I'm not sure but had something minor on it.

They plugged in old phone handsets so we could listen as she was dispatching calls. We were asking her what some of the unit designators where on the duty unit status page and she told us. But we stumped the whole dispatch center with the 15FL units. No one knew and the NHWD dispatcher was asking the officers via MDC if they knew. We had a good laugh over that.

We could have stayed around for longer but we had to go after 45 minutes in the dispatch room.
They even gave us snacks and souvenirs before we left.

As we were waiting for our ride outside the building explorers were doing pushups in the front of the building. HA!

What a great time!

 

[KMA367]

They plugged in old phone handsets so we could listen as she was dispatching calls. We were asking her what some of the unit designators where on the duty unit status page and she told us. But we stumped the whole dispatch center with the 15FL units. No one knew and the NHWD dispatcher was asking the officers via MDC if they knew. We had a good laugh over that.

That's funny. Years ago "Frank" units were felony cars, manned by patrol officers on special crime details, and not subject to radio calls. FL would imply a one-officer car, but who knows what the "F" means today. They kind of disappeared and today's "Z" units do essentially the same thing. They seldom tell Communications what they're working on and usually can't be dispatched to radio calls, though they often respond to calls. The only exception that stands out in my mind is "1Z86" who was the Central Div "shoplifter picker-upper" unit at Christmastime.

I sometimes hear a "15E(dward..)" or "15EL.." unit, another sort of anomaly for NHwd. "E" units are traffic enforcement automobiles, as opposed to motors, who are specifically assigned to do traffic enforcement. Not sure why there would be one in NHwd. After LAPD gave up the city's freeways to CHP, the "E" units disappeared pretty quickly. Or maybe both the "E" and "F" units are doing something entirely different, specific to North Hollywood, that's "too big to talk about" as they like to say. Listening via the internet is a hit-and-miss proposition, so I haven't even tried to pay attention to what kinds of stuff they talk about on the radio.

Glad you had a good tour, and it sounds like they're much more accomodating than they used to be.

I got some stats the other day, and for Jan-March, they're answering about 97% of the incoming 9-1-1 calls in < 10 seconds. Both centers topped 98% in Jan & Feb, but in March they both fell to 94-95% for some reason I haven't been able to pinpoint yet.. California's "target" is 90% answered within ten seconds.

 

[PJaxx]

What a kick!

I went too, but I forgot to take my camera. I'm going to take a few hours off tomorrow and take the downtown center, too. It was WAY more complex than I imagined, and the dispatchers came across as even more dedicated and knowledgeable about their work than I had imagined. I sure couldn't do that job.

Had a great time yesterday at the Valley Dispatch center!
We had a brief (15 min) orientation with the guide (who is a dispatcher).

 

[karldotcom]

The story I remember was the VHF radio had failed, but a complaint never reached LA City ITA for them to check on it...and there was no budget for a new radio anyway. (I have an Icom V8000 they can have for free) I wouldnt be a bit surprised if the calls were still being sent to the dead radio...ha!

The city still has it, but it got unplugged for hotshots in October of 2007, and never came back. Either that screenshot is old (I got it more than a year ago), or else they've just never deleted it from their screen.

 

[KMA367]

The story I remember was the VHF radio had failed, but a complaint never reached LA City ITA for them to check on it...and there was no budget for a new radio anyway. (I have an Icom V8000 they can have for free) I wouldnt be a bit surprised if the calls were still being sent to the dead radio...ha!

I don't remember the budget part, but I do remember that there was some horrendous noise being generated on the frequency so it was either pushed or fell off the air to see where the problem was, but it never came back.

I wondered even then why they still bothered putting hotshots on VHF at all, since nobody at LAPD depends on it, and the relatively few VHF users aren't the kind of people that are likely to interrupt their skulking around town to jump into the middle of something that's more appropriate for people who look and dress like cops. I remember the "KMC250" Fan Belt Inspectors used to occasionally talk to 4K90 (Robbery-Homicide) on Tac 1 when there was a bank robbery, but I don't know who else ever needs to talk or listen to LAPD on VHF.

It's kind of like the LASD's "busy beeps" - nobody seems to notice or care other than us scanner folks. The deputies get so used to the beeps that they don't really hear them, and if anyone at LAPD "needed" 154.83 for hotshots it would have been put back on the air.

 

[karldotcom]

oh, #7 was what I was remembering...

http://forums.radioreference.com/gr...happened-lapd-tac-1-154-830-a.html#post652545

 

[911jason]

In the first picture, what is the meaning of the extra letters and numbers with "21A57" and the other unit numbers? And in the second one, what is each screen used for?

The B is inserted by the CAD system to indicate the unit is in a BUSY status. KMA was correct that the W3 is just the unit's watch/shift.

I notice on the Radio Channel Select screen - "TAC-1 analog" is still listed.

Do they still have this? I cant recall last time I heard any activity on it.

Even when we switched over to the digital radio system, we were still broadcasting hotshots on TAC-1 Analog for those surrounding agencies that monitored our frequencies for calls on the edges of our jurisdiction. When it went out, no one complained so they never bothered to fix it. At least that's what I've been told.

The 6 computer screen technology is very impressive. One screen had an area map (NHWD) Orion Mapstar. The next screen had the all NHWD street names. The next screen had all the on duty units status and active/pending calls screen for that (NHWD) area. The next screen was the Radio channel select screen (TAC-1 analog was not there just Hotshots in that spot). The next screen was the Incident detail screen. The last screen I'm not sure but had something minor on it.

Screen #1 (Far left) is our mapping screen. The program shown in the picture above is Orion Mapstar, which has (unfortunately) been replaced by Orion Vela. The Vela system was added in a March 2011 "upgrade" with very minimal training for the dispatchers. While it is a more attractive and powerful system compared with Mapstar, it is not as user-friendly. Most dispatchers are still running Mapstar which was left on the computers. One example of the difference between the two is when looking up an intersection on Mapstar, I just enter TOPANGA&&VICTORY and then double-click on one of the results that will show up. On Vela, it is a complicated process of entering Topanga, tabbing through a few options and entering Victory, then choosing which Topanga (Topanga Canyon Blvd CHATS, Topanga Cyn Bl C PRK, etc.) you want that will intersect with whichever Victory (E Victory NHWD, Victory Bl VNYS, Victory Bl ENC, W Victory Bl BURB, etc.) you choose. It's very cumbersome and takes significantly longer than Mapstar.

Screen #2 is the Vesta Telephone System screen. Calltakers use it as a telephone obviously, but dispatchers use the Vesta system for it's Volume Control and Instant Recall Recorder (Audio Playback) features. The user can also use this screen for Adobe Acrobat to access street guides (as Spock observed), RD/Beat maps, the 600+ page CommDiv Manual and various other PDF files.

Screen #3 is the Unit Status Detail and Stacked Incidents Display. Basically lists all of the units for the selected division(s) along with their current incident and status. It can also display their stacked calls which are basically additional incidents they are holding. They may have handled some incidents and not dispositioned (closed) them out yet or they may have calls waiting to be handled that have been assigned to them. LAPD is one of the few agencies I'm aware of that assigns multiple calls to a unit. The CAD system allows the dispatcher to assign up to 5 additional radio calls to a unit's stack.

Screen #4 is the main CAD input screen. This is where incidents are initiated and all other data is entered into the CAD system. The pending incidents for the selected area are also displayed at the bottom of this screen. There is also a streamer (Unit ID display for who's keying their mic) and a Channel Group Selection for selecting multiple radio channels at once.

Screen #5 is the Motorola MCC 7500 IP Dispatch Console, aka Centracom or Radio. Pretty self-explanatory for this website, I guess! There is also another streamer available here, but it only displays the radio ID, not the associated Unit ID.

Screen #6 is inactive on most consoles (had to be installed to counterbalance the monitor used for Screen #1). A few consoles use this screen for LAN access and a confidential app that I can't discuss.

But we stumped the whole dispatch center with the 15FL units. No one knew and the NHWD dispatcher was asking the officers via MDC if they knew. We had a good laugh over that.

That's funny. Years ago "Frank" units were felony cars, manned by patrol officers on special crime details, and not subject to radio calls. FL would imply a one-officer car, but who knows what the "F" means today. They kind of disappeared and today's "Z" units do essentially the same thing. They seldom tell Communications what they're working on and usually can't be dispatched to radio calls, though they often respond to calls. The only exception that stands out in my mind is "1Z86" who was the Central Div "shoplifter picker-upper" unit at Christmastime.

I sometimes hear a "15E(dward..)" or "15EL.." unit, another sort of anomaly for NHwd. "E" units are traffic enforcement automobiles, as opposed to motors, who are specifically assigned to do traffic enforcement. Not sure why there would be one in NHwd. After LAPD gave up the city's freeways to CHP, the "E" units disappeared pretty quickly. Or maybe both the "E" and "F" units are doing something entirely different, specific to North Hollywood, that's "too big to talk about" as they like to say. Listening via the internet is a hit-and-miss proposition, so I haven't even tried to pay attention to what kinds of stuff they talk about on the radio.

Frank units (and one-man FL units) are still occasionally deployed and as far as I know are used in the manner KMA described. Basically special details where they do their own thing and are not responsible for handling radio calls.

Edward units (and one-man EL units which are more common) are deployed occasionally by geographic (non-traffic) divisions to enforce traffic issues for that division. They don't handle traffic collisions, rather they are ticket-writers that are just out and about dealing with problem streets in their division. They can be assigned radio calls when needed.