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911, Where is your emergency? That is what was heard over 57,100 times in 2010 as residents called 911. The emergency can be anything from a misdialed number to a shots fired call. This is in addition to over 160,400 non-emergency calls fielded by the St. Joseph Communications Center also in 2010. The St. Joseph Communications Center not only processes incoming calls, but also completes numerous activities in support of personnel, such as dispatching and monitoring emergency responders, contacting and relaying pertinent information to the field, and entering want/warrant information into MULES/NCIC.

The St. Joseph Communications Center is a joint communications center serving the St. Joseph Police Department, Buchanan County Sheriff's Department, St. Joseph Fire Department, and five Buchanan County Rural Fire Departments. The call to 911 can mean the difference between life and death in some cases. The Communications Center is the vital link between our community and emergency responders. It is the job of these men and women to field calls for help and initiate the proper resources to respond to situations.

The St. Joseph Communications Center is staffed by a group of twenty one professionals trained in handling emergency communications. All communications operators are required to complete an in-house seventeen week CTO program. We are committed to continuing education accomplishing 804 hours collectively in 2010. Our shift trainer program keeps operators up to date on essential skills by conducting monthly shift training on duty.

Our communications center is equipped with seven emergency consoles putting the newest technology to work. The St. Joseph Communications Center utilizes New World Aegis Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, touch screen Sentinel 911 Patriot phone system, and touch screen Centracom Elite radio system. In 2011, interoperability was accomplished streamlining information sharing between the St. Joseph Police Department with the Buchanan County Sheriff's Department and Missouri Western State University Police.

We remained committed to community education and outreach throughout 2010. Our 911 Education Program was extended to reach children not only in St. Joseph city schools but parochial and Buchanan County schools as well. We were able to reach out to over 1700 children in our community in 2010.

If you need to report an emergency, please call 911.

If you need to report a non-emergency or are requesting general police or fire assistance, please call (816)271-4777.