Washington County Emergency Communications District was formed by voter referendum in November 1986. After naming roads and addressing structures, the 911 District took it's first call on November 15th 1988. The District currently has 43 employees. The District is governed by a 9 member board. The Board of Directors are appointed by the Washington County Mayor and Commission for a 4 year term.
In 2016 The District answered xxx,xxx 9-1-1 and Admistrative calls and entered 184,566 calls into it's Computer Aided Dispatch system.
A 9-1-1 call results from a situation when someone needs help or needs a response from a Public Safety Agency. Dispatchers at 9-1-1 are trained and experienced in getting you the best help. It is vital for the caller to state certain information to the Dispatcher so that they can provide you with the most appropriate help in a timely manner. It may seem that the Dispatcher is asking alot of questions, but be certain, that all the questions are necessary.
There are several vital pieces of information that go into a 9-1-1 call. The location can be either your address, an intersection, or block range of any street inside Washington County or Johnson City. Always be sure that you specify any special directions that may help locate where the emergency is taking place such as apartment number, lot number or house description. The type of call indicates the nature of the situation and whether this is a call for Police, Fire, Medical or all three agencies. The name and telephone number is important to us in case we get disconnected or need to call you back for updated information that needs to be relayed to responding units. The date and times of all calls for service are kept for report and records keeping purposes. If your call is involving a vehicle such as a possible drunken driver or reckless driver please make sure to get a vehicle description and tag number if it is safe to do so. Please be mindful of your own safety!