Collaboration Communications Data Analysis November 6, 2025
When communities discuss reform of the criminal justice system, attention usually focuses on the actions of patrol officers. Yet, our research for the Safety and Justice Challenge’s Research Consortium highlights that the public safety communications personnel — the dedicated call takers and dispatchers who answer emergency and non-emergency lines — are critical, often-overlooked, initial gatekeepers of justice. Their instantaneous, high-stakes decisions can affect outcomes, including law enforcement response, diversion options, and even the jail population.
What Happens When Someone Calls the Emergency Line?
The process begins when a call enters a Public Safety Answering Point. The call taker, operating with limited and sometimes inaccurate audio information, must make fast, interpretive judgments and decisions, including:
- Information Gathering and Classification: The call taker must quickly ascertain the location, ask detailed questions, and classify the incident, often translating the caller’s narrative into fixed-choice fields within the computer dispatching system. This classification immediately assigns a priority level and dictates which initial resources are mobilized, such as police, fire, and emergency medical services).
- Dynamic Resource Adjustment: The situation is fluid; if a simple disturbance call escalates to a serious event, the call taker must reclassify the call, which increases the priority and prompts the dispatcher to mobilize additional resources. The interpretive judgments made by the call taker—classifying the call, prioritizing the response, and deciding what narrative details to include—are acts of professional discretion. This process, known as “dispatch priming,” is crucial because it shapes the mindset, assumptions, and tactics of the responding officer before they arrive on scene, which can critically affect how event play out.
- Resolution or Referral: Communications personnel ultimately decide if a response is necessary or if the call can be addressed over the phone. Our data showed that in East Baton Rouge Parish, a significant portion of calls (23 percent) were resolved directly by the call taker. However, many administrative or informational calls that do not result in officer deployment are omitted entirely from the dispatching systems, limiting the visibility of their true workload.
Strengths and Pitfalls of Diversion at the Communications Office
As alternatives to incarceration gain traction, the communications office is recognized as a vital point for diversion.
The Strength: Specialized Care and Staff Relief. Call takers frequently acknowledged they would prefer more training so they can better assist callers experiencing mental health crises. Both communications staff and patrol officers widely support integrating specialized behavioral health professionals into these operations. They see this as a way to ensure callers receive better, tailored care, and this collaboration allows police and dispatchers to focus on higher-priority emergencies.
One participant explained the advantage of having specialized staff: “It’s nice that we . . . can redirect to a resource that’s better fitted and well-trained to handle those types of calls… it takes a big burden off of our shoulders where we don’t have the training to do things like that.”
The Challenge: Sustainability. Integration of mental health services into the call taking and dispatch model varies widely even within communities that have experimented with doing so. Having an embedded clinician in the call and dispatch center is also challenging. Such programs are expensive, require that clinicians be trained on call center operations, and necessitate establishing workable protocols detailing the roles and responsibilities of behavioral specialists, communications personnel, and patrol officers. These models also create their own set of staffing pressures. One study site paused its program due to staffing difficulties.
The Unrecognized Front Line: Personnel Experiences
Communications personnel operate in environments characterized by unpredictability and exposure to trauma. They routinely navigate chaotic events, quickly transitioning from slow periods to intense times. The communications personnel might not have any incoming calls and, only moments later, find themselves flooded with dozens of calls describing one or more critical events.
The complexity of their workload goes far beyond serious crime; a substantial portion of calls involve non-criminal issues like traffic incidents, medical emergencies, 911 hang-ups, and general requests for assistance. To manage this environment, call takers require strong “multi-listening” skills, attending simultaneously to distressed callers, nearby colleagues, and radio traffic, all while quickly securing accurate information. They must also maintain composure, as callers often exhibit evidence of anger, frustration (observed in 13 to 16 percent of calls), or panic.
The personnel often feel unseen and excluded from formal recognition as first responders. One participant said they don’t feel that there is always enough acknowledgement of “the things that we hear, the things we have to talk about, the things we put onto the radio.” They handle scenarios few others experience: “Not very many people have been on the phone with someone who’s just been shot or someone who’s wanting to kill themselves or someone who’s just found a loved one dead.”
Yet, despite the emotional toll, many find deep fulfillment in their role, stating: “No matter how hard this job sounds, it’s so rewarding. You feel like a better person because you helped somebody who needed help.”
What Decision-Makers Must Keep in Mind
To leverage public safety communications personnel as effective partners in justice reform, decision-makers must recognize their critical function and provide appropriate support.
They can do this by:
- Formally recognizing communications personnel as first responders.
- Making investments in career-long training, including mandatory training to handle mental health calls effectively.
- Addressing data gaps, including the administrative and informational calls often omitted from computer systems, to truly understand workloads and community service demands.
By supporting these professionals, we don’t just improve efficiency; we ensure better outcomes for everyone who reaches out in crisis.
