Dispatch: Definition and What It Means for Your Property

The number on every page

Price Protection’s dispatch line, (281) 326-9189, is answered 24 hours a day, and it is the same number for a manager who needs a fire watch tonight, an officer whose relief has not arrived, and a resident who was given the courtesy line. Behind the number is a desk that knows where every officer is scheduled, who is available, which posts are covered and which need attention. When a request comes in, dispatch is what turns it into a post with a start time.

What dispatch does during a shift

Officers check in with dispatch when they take a post and when they leave it. Dispatch relays client instructions that arrive mid-shift, confirms call-outs and fills them, logs incidents as officers phone them in, and escalates to the supervisor on duty and to the client’s contact tree when an event calls for it. If an officer does not check in, dispatch calls the post. If a client calls with a problem, dispatch can raise the officer on the radio or phone in seconds rather than waiting for the officer to see a message.

What dispatch needs from a new client

To start coverage, dispatch asks for the address and the type of property, the hours and the start date, armed or unarmed, the contact who will sign the post orders, the site contact for the first shift, and, for a fire watch, the system that is down and the areas affected. With that, unarmed coverage can typically start at most sites within hours. The emergency security guards page lists what to have ready when you call, and the radio protocol article describes how officers and dispatch stay in contact through a shift.