2004, City of Richmond Virginia’s Division of Emergency Communications (DEC) recognized that there was a need to reduce the number of calls by the news media to the 9-1-1 operations center. By policy, 9-1-1 call-takers must answer 9-1-1 emergency lines ahead of non-emergency telephone lines. During peak periods of activity for the 9-1-1 center, a special number established for the news media may have gone unanswered while call-takers were busy answering 9-1-1 calls. The volume of calls to this special media line totaled 8,297 for calendar year 2003. During calendar year 2004, the number of calls to the 9-1-1 center on the media line swelled to 17,777.
Richmond’s 9-1-1 center is equipped with 12 answering positions, but the minimum personnel requirement is four communications officers to answer the telephones. Rarely are there more than six call-takers on duty—unless additional members have been called to duty for a major event, such as a hurricane. During an extremely busy morning, one assistant communications supervisor answered the media line after it had continued to ring more than 150 times. The supervisor was handling a higher priority call at the time, but made tick marks on his scratch pad for each ring so that he could track the number of rings. When he answered the media line, he asked the reporter why he had let the phone ring so many times instead of hanging up and trying later. The reporter, who represented a metro-Richmond traffic service that fed information to several radio stations, replied, “I am going to let the phone continue to ring until you people answer it.” This same reporter also called every 15 minutes during the rush hours to determine the location of traffic accidents and tie-ups. For managers, it was easy to understand the frustration of the communications officers during peak periods when they had to listen to the ongoing ringing of the media line while everyone was busy with 9-1-1 calls. It was equally easy to understand the frustration of members of the news media at not being able to obtain the information they needed to do their jobs.

The 800 MHz System, referred to as a trunked simulcast radio system, consists of multiple channels and features which provides multiple users the ability to communicate simultaneously across the entire system. It is the primary means of voice radio communications for public safety throughout the Capital Region.

The City of Richmond is a partner of the Capital Region 800 MHz Trunked Radio System. There is a cooperative agreement amongst the City of Richmond, Henrico County, and Chesterfield County for regional radio communication and maintenance of the regional system. Each locality owns and operates its simulcast sub-zones covering the areas within its boundaries. The City’s three sub-zone systems are connected through the “prime site” that is located in the Henrico County 911 Center. The City’s 800 MHz System is comprised of three radio towers and approximately 3,500 radio users.The result of the 800 MHz radio system is well-forged partnership with Henrico County, Chesterfield County, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Virginia State Capitol Police. Not only can radio users across multiple City of Richmond departments communicate with one another during major city-wide events, but City users can coordinate with the partner agencies during regional-wide emergencies. One example is a vehicle pursuit that spans across the regional. Law enforcement officers from multiple jurisdictions are able to coordinate their efforts immediately via a single radio pursuit “talk group” to bring the pursuit to an end as quickly as possible including apprehension of the suspect(s).

This web-based system is collaborative effort between Richmond Police Department, Information Technology, pawnshop shops, Gold & Silver shops, Henrico & Chesterfield Counties. This system provides businesses (in or out of the City of Richmond) the ability to perform online data entry and the ability to upload data as a batch process. This data is used by Richmond Police Department and surrounding law enforcement agencies as one of the investigative tools in their crime preventive efforts.