The City of Reno and Washoe County Sheriff's Office have changed the way they take your 911 calls.
They're now working side-by-side at the area's largest emergency dispatch center.
The Washoe County Sheriff's Office now has its dispatchers co-located with dispatchers who take calls for Reno Police and Fire Departments; and other agencies.
Monday, we went behind the scenes to find out how this co-working arrangement will improve communicatioins during emergencies.
"So now you have two agencies in the same room working on one thing.. And that's providing dispatch services to all of our residents; police, fire assets, and other public safety assets," says Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley.
The dispatch center is buzzing with activity as calls come in for a fire Monday in southwest Reno.
These are the people who take down information and dispatch emergency crews within the city of Reno and to the far reaches of Washoe County.
The center takes calls for the Washoe County Sheriff's Office, the Reno Police and Fire Departments, the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District and the Sierra Fire Protection District.
They also take calls for UNR and TMCC police, and other law enforcement agencies.
"Quite often in this area there are calls that require both Washoe County sheriff and Reno Police to work together and by us being in the same room to be able to coordinate those resources just gets the job done that much faster," says Daniel Johnson of the City of Reno.
Dispatchers are trained to handle different types of calls, and the center tracks the type of calls that come in and the time of day, so they know when to have extra staff.
Written by Jennifer Burton
