MUPD's Communication Center

The MUPD Communications Center is located just beyond the main entrance of the Police Department in the General Services Building. The Communications Center is staffed 24-hours a day, everyday. The Department currently employs six (6) full-time communication operators. All of our operators have been MULES (Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System) and APCO (Association of Public Communication Officials) trained and certified. The Communications Center is under the supervision of Captain Scott Richardson.

The Communications Center is responsible for a variety of emergency and non-emergency call taking to dispatching police officers to calls of service.  Our operators have been trained to determine what type of response needs to be sent based on the caller's response to the operators questions. Duties of our communication operators include: 

• Receive incoming calls for assistance 

• Prioritize requests for assistance 

• Maintain and operate police radios 

• Assist walk-ins via the red communications phone located in the lobby

• Dispatch police officers and other emergency services, when necessary 

• Maintain the status of police officers in the field 

• Operate criminal justice computer systems (MULES) that provide officers with critical criminal offender and other record information 

• File and maintain criminal justice entries, information and logs 

• Operate computerized dispatch (Computer Aided Dispatch or CAD) 

• Maintain daily activities summary log 

In most cases, the communication operator is the first contact a person has with the MU Police Department. They become the first impression of this Department therefore their professionalism becomes very important. When someone calls for service the operator must obtain the caller's name, his/her call back number, location and nature of call, obtain information that will assist the responding officer(s) in apprehension and officer safety information. 

As you can see, the communication operators do much more than answer the phones. Their ability to remain calm and professional during periods of intense stress is essential to the completion of their duties and to the safety of all patrol personnel.