HISTORY
The Barnstable County Police Radio System was established in 1933 by Sheriff Lauchlan Crocker as an experiment to determine the feasibility of public safety radio in Barnstable County. This “experimental system” was operated by one of the correctional officers at the House of Correction/County Jail.

In April of 1936, the purchase of a radio system that operated on 33.90 MHz in the then “state of the art” FM spectrum proved that radio communications could reduce response times by making it possible to dispatch motor patrols efficiently. Our existence was formalized in 1938 when the Massachusetts legislature enacted Chapter 100, Acts of 1938 that authorized the County to operate a “police broadcasting radio system”.

The communications were being conducted in a “shack” that was located on the hill over looking Barnstable Harbor next to the County Jail. To this day, the communications center is still affectionately known as “The Shack” to many of those in public safety.

Through the years, after many additions and renovations, the current communications center (now know as the Public Safety Building) was built in 1972. Funding was recently awarded to renovate and expand the Public Safety Building to meet current and future needs.

STAFF
The Communications Division is under the supervision of Peter Thomas, Director of Communications. A staff of 21 consists of an Assistant Director, 16 full-time telecommunicators and 3 part-time telecommunicators. All members of the staff are certified in CPR, First Responder, APCO (Association of Public Safety Communication Officials) basic telecommunicator and APCO EMD (Emergency Medical Dispatch).

Also on staff are certified instructors in APCO Basic and APCO EMD, who, in addition to meeting department training needs, assist in training telecommunicators throughout Southeastern Massachusetts.

The telecommunicator staff currently works a forty (40) hour work week which consists of five (5) days on, two (2) days off. The day and evening shifts consist of four (4) telecommunicators on duty, with three (3) telecommunicators on duty for the midnight shift. All telecommunicators rotate working positions during the work week.

The positions are broken down as CMED (ambulance to hospital communications), Fire/Police and two (2) Fire Dispatch/911 positions. A fifth (5th) position exists in the communications room in the event that additional staff are needed for large scale events or times of extremely high call volume.

SERVICES
From the early days of “The Shack”, services provided by the Communications Division have grown enormously. Currently, this division serves as a regional 911 PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) for the towns of Falmouth, Mashpee, Otis AFB, Harwich, Chatham, Orleans and Brewster. This PSAP also serves as the back-up for several communities as well as Dukes County (Martha’s Vineyard).

Fire Dispatch services are provided for the Barnstable and West Barnstable Fire Districts, as well as the towns of Bourne, Mashpee, Orleans and Brewster Fire Departments.

The Barnstable County Fire Mutual Aid System is maintained and dispatched from “The Shack” as well. In cooperation with the Barnstable County Fire Chiefs, all runs cards, up to the 5th alarm, for all 19 fire departments are maintained and updated by the telecommunicator staff. When additional resources are needed, whether it is a multiple alarm fire, MCI (Mass Casualty Incident), search and rescue or large forest fires, all assignments are dispatched by BSO.

The CMED (Centralized Medical Emergency Dispatch) system, which was established in 1973, was the first in the Commonwealth. Communications are provided for field providers to area hospitals by a system which consists of a UHF radio system, 6 radio towers and phone lines. Over 35,000 calls a year are processed for approximately 60 ambulances and 4 area hospitals. The CMED center also coordinates all Med-Flights for the area as well as working with the USCG for medi-vacs by helicopter or boat. All dispatch functions are processed on a new state-of-the-art Positron CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) System. This system provides pre-plans, premise and patient history as well as mapping (GIS).

There are many other dispatch functions and services provided by the Communications Division. The SE Massachusetts District 1 HazMat team, local gas and electric utility companies, Cape Cod National Seashore Park Rangers, Massachusetts Environmental Police, MEMA (Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency) just to mention a few.

With the exception of a few, all communications are conducted on an 800MHz trunking radio system. The trunking system, owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is maintained by the State Police with the local assistance of BCSO radio technicians. In conjunction with the trunking system, the telecommunicators provide services with a state-of-the-art Motorola Gold Elite radio console.