Police Communication Center

When calling, please have at a minimum the following information ready:

• Location of the incident.
• Type of incident.
• Is the crime still in progress?
• Number of suspects, if any; and whether they are armed.
• Suspect description (race, sex, height, weight, clothing) and last known direction of travel.
• Vehicle description (color, year, make, model, license plate number) if any; and last known direction of travel.

The dispatch center at WWU Police Department is staffed by WSCJTC certified Communication Officers or “dispatchers”, 24 hours a day.  It is the responsibility of the Communications Officer to quickly and accurately identify the nature of your call in order to assist in solving the problem.  The Communication Officer is the critical link between the citizen and the police officer, as they are responsible for screening calls and relaying that information to responding police.

The WWU Police Department currently employs 5 full-time Communication Officers, who report to a police Sergeant.

Because each incoming call may vary from a request for general information to a report of a life threatening incident, the dispatcher must ask specific questions to accurately prioritize the call and assign a police officer, or direct a caller to other appropriate services.  The sooner this information can be obtained, the faster an officer is able to respond or other needed assistance may be provided.

The dispatch center is responsible for handling all on campus # 3911 calls, other campus emergency phones and the business line, 24 hours a day. The department utilizes a CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) program and a high frequency narrow-banded radio system.  Communications Officers are also responsible for running or entering DOL, WASIC and NCIC entries for police. They also monitor security and fire alarms for the campus as well as answer the campus emergency callboxes.

When requesting services for non-emergency/non-life threatening situations, we ask for your patience as emergencies have priority over non-emergency calls.