In September of 2023, Wilson County 911, Wilson County Sheriff's Department, and Wilson County Emergency Management Agency co-located their dispatch. This move allows the dispatchers of all three agencies to be in the same room. This move was made because it better serves you, our community.
In 2024, Wilson County 911 averaged around 7,900 calls a month with more than 90% percent of those coming from cell phones. Every year technology is slowly gaining ground on location for
9-1-1 callers. Wilson County implemented RapidSOS to track cellphone calls once the call came into the center. This is integrated into the Computer Aid Dispatch system. Location is the single most important piece of information we can obtain and has to be verified due to a history of incorrect addresses being given due to various reasons.
Our telecommunicators are trained to handle various types of callers and provide assistance not only to the calling parties but our sister agencies as they dispatch responders. Our Telecommunicators are Nationally certified, as is our training program, and perform over 99% above the National Emergency Number Association Standards in call answering times.
Over twelve months (2024), our telecommunicators handled over 94,000 calls for service! An estimated total of 42 % of these calls were kept off our sister agencies. This could be due to multiple calls on a single incident or any other varying reasons. Based on the numbers, just about 58% of calls were transferred to agencies.
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) states that 90% of calls should be answered within 15 seconds and 95% of calls within 20 seconds. Wilson County Emergency Communications District (Wilson County 9-1-1) answered 9-1-1 calls in less than10 seconds over 99% of the time, not only meeting the standard but far exceeding it - because seconds matter!
Wilson County 9-1-1 also tones out Watertown Volunteer Fire Department for the City of Watertown. Throughout the years Wilson County 9-1-1 has done so, Watertown Volunteer Fire Department has been credited with good response times due to Wilson County 911 paging them out.
With Wilson County being the fastest-growing county in Tennessee, our interstates and highways are seeing increased traffic flow. Every department is dependent on each other to ensure the safety of all Wilson Countians, from residents, visitors, and responders.