Policy Text
Support Services Page 1 of 8 401.1 (1/2015)
Communications Bureau
Handling Wireless Calls
I. Policy
It shall be the policy of the Sacr amento Sheriff’s Department C ommunications
Bureau to receive, verify, and coordinate the appropriate respo nse based on the
circumstances of each wireless call.
II. Types of Wireless Calls
A. Phase I (W911): A Phase I wirel ess 9-1-1 call is determined as follows:
1. Provides the latitude and long itude coordinates for the location of
the cell tower handling the 9-1-1 call as w ell as the tower’s sector
which indicates the direction of the caller in reference to the tower.
2. The ANI/ALI screen displays “W 911” to designate that it is a
wireless Phase I call.
3. It may be possible to obtain Phase II information for a call that
initially came in as Phase I, this is done by retransmitting th e
ANI/ALI information during the call using the Update button on the
phone monitor.
B. Phase II (WPH2): A Phase II wir eless 9-1-1 call is determin ed as follows:
1. Provides the latitude and l ongitude coordinates for the caller’s
actual location as well as a radius around that location and a
percentage indicating the accura cy of the location information.
2. The display on the ANI/ALI screen shows “ WPH2 ” to designate that
it is a wireless Phase II call.
3. The Phase II location technol ogy could take up to 15 seconds for
the system to determine t he caller’s location.
4. The address displayed on the ANI/ALI screen is the location of the
cell tower.
C. Uninitialized: A 9-1-1 ca ll coming from a phone not subscrib ed to a
wireless service is considered uninitialized. The ANI/ALI displ ay will show
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Communications Bureau either (911) XXX-XXXX or (XXX) 911-XXXX in place of the cellula r phone
number. 1. These calls can be ei ther Phase I (W911) or Phase II (WPH2)
depending on the device.
2. It is not possible to call back to this type device. 3. It may be possible to obtain information on the previous sub scriber
from the Wireless Service Provid er (WSP) listed on the ANI/ALI
screen.
III. General Procedures
A. When there is a caller on the line, call-takers shall make e very effort to
confirm the location and type of emergency being reported.
B. Whenever possible, call-takers shall use the F6 key to creat e an event
that results from an incoming 9-1-1 call.
C. If the call has disconnected prior to confirming the locatio n of the
emergency, call-takers shall det ermine how to proceed based on the
following: 1. Phase I (W911) call with no indications of duress heard or
perceived by the call-taker:
(a) Make two attempts to contact the 9-1-1 caller at the
telephone number listed.
(b) If unable to contact the caller, leave a voicemail message, if
that service is available, r eferring the caller to (916) 874-
5111 if they have any questions.
(c) Document the incident and t he attempt to contact the caller
in a CAD event using the 952 call type and auto-clear the
event. Make sure to include tha t it was a W911 call and use
the tower address as the Location .
(d) If contact is made, handle the incident as appropriate for the
situation and update the call remarks.
2. Phase I (W911) call with indications of duress heard or
perceived by the call-taker:
(a) Make two attempts to contact the 9-1-1 caller at the
telephone number listed.
(b) Create a CAD event using the 952 call type. Note in the
Initial Remarks of the event that it is a W911 call.
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Communications Bureau (c) Use the location of the towe r listed on the ANI/ALI screen as
the Response Locat ion for the event.
(d) The dispatcher that this ev ent is routed to shall broadcast an
announcement of the situation to s heriff units in the district of
the cell sector.
(e) The call-taker shall contac t the WSP listed on the ANI/ALI
screen to determine the home or o ther address of the caller.
(f) If the address given by the W SP is within the jurisdiction of
the Sacramento County Sher iff’s Department, update the
Location of the CAD event to the address provided and
dispatch deputies to perform a welfare check and to see if
occupants know the whereabouts of the phone that placed
the 9-1-1 call.
(g) If the location is outside o f the jurisdiction of the Sacra mento
County Sheriff’s Department, adv ise the appropriate outside
agency to respond.
(h) Take any other reasonable me asures to locate the caller.
(i) If contact is made, handle as appropriate for the situation .
(j) Document the incident and t he attempt to contact the caller