Contact Persons:
Toni Bessent
[ tbessent@horrycounty.org ]

Mailing address:
PO Box 1236
Conway, SC 29528

Physical location:
Administrative Complex Building
103 Elm Street, Room 234
Conway, SC 29526

Phone: (843) 915-5100 Administration
(843) 248-1520 Non-Emergency
911 Emergency

Fax: (843) 248-1471

Administration Office Hours
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Monday through Friday

Dispatch Hours
24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year

Functions

9-1-1 Center: assist all citizens and visitors by answering emergency and non-emergency calls, dispatching Horry County Police, Atlantic Beach Police, Aynor Police, Conway Fire Rescue, Surfside Fire Rescue, Horry County Fire Rescue, and Horry County Sheriff's Office, maintaining records. Provide medical pre-arrival instructions to assist caller in giving help to the sick and injured before medical personnel arrive.

Radio System: Oversee upgrades, maintenance and repair of the county’s 800 MHz and VHF radio systems. Maintain FCC licenses and make required notifications. Coordinate mutual aid activities with the Palmetto 800 system and other local government radio systems.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are you asking me so many questions?

To determine the level and number of responders needed, assure prompt arrival of emergency personnel and advise responders of potentially hazardous situations. Staying on the line with the call taker does not delay the response. Another person, a dispatcher is sending the appropriate help and additional information is relayed to them by radio while they are on the way.

How long will it take for an officer to arrive?

It is very difficult to estimate because emergency calls must take priority over non-emergency calls. It also depends on how far away the officer is and if he is busy with a prior call.

Don't you already have my address?

Yes, but we must make sure our information is correct to make sure help arrives as soon as possible.

Qualifications for Employment

Prior to Employment:

Must have a High School Diploma or GED
Experience in telecommunications, public safety or related field
Undergo a criminal background investigation

After Employment:

In-house orientation and training
National Crime Information Center Certification
South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy E-9-1-1 Telecommunicator Specialist Training
PowerPhone Emergency Medical Dispatch Training
Mandatory bimonthly in-service training
Various local and regional training opportunities

Common Terms

Landmark - permanent or long-standing, easily recognizable feature, used to identify a particular location.

Medical History - any significant past or chronic health condition.

Non-emergency call - calls for service that pose no threat of injury or loss of life and no threat of theft or damage to property.

Major Projects

AVL: A program to incorporate Automatic Vehicle Locators on all county emergency responders is underway. This project will allow a dispatcher to see a graphical representation of each apparatus and allow the CAD to recommend units based on where they are at any given moment. The dispatcher will always know which units are closer to any emergency call.

North and South Precinct officers of the police department and all county ambulances have AVL systems in place. The Central Precinct and the Fire apparatus will be receiving their equipment soon.

Radio Rebanding: Horry County has been preparing to comply with the FCC mandate to reconfigure it’s 16 channel 800 MHz trunked radio system. All county and municipal public safety agencies and many other departments of local government are primary users of this system. All of the 2916 radios and the equipment at 6 towers will be affected and will need to be replaced, retuned or reprogrammed.

Interesting Facts

The Communications Center is here to provide help to all citizens and visitors to our area. All 9-1-1 calls made in Horry County are answered by the Horry County 9-1-1 Center. We dispatch for a number of Police (Atlantic Beach, Aynor, and County) and Fire Rescue (Conway, Surfside, and County) departments. If the caller is in need of the services of the South Carolina Highway Patrol, any of the city police or fire departments, or any other emergency agency, we immediately transfer the call to them.

In Fiscal Year 2008 (July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008) we dispatched a total of 189,244 police, fire and ambulance incidents. 579,108 incoming telephone calls were received and 225,530 of those were 9-1-1 calls. Wireless calls accounted for 58.5% of 9-1-1 calls. Our lowest number of 9-1-1 calls was in January, when we answered 14,976 calls. The highest monthly total was in July when we received 25,157 9-1-1 calls.

Please do not call 9-1-1 unless you have an emergency. If you call us on 9-1-1 and do not have an emergency, please tell us. If you do not speak with us to tell us you don't have an emergency, we will have to send a Police officer to make sure. If we send help where no help is needed, we may not have units available to respond to real emergencies.

FOIA Requests
[Freedom of Information Act Requests]

911 Tape Request

[revised January 2009]

.pdf

.doc

Character Word of the Month

Each month the supervisory staff of the department chooses someone who exemplifies the Character Word of the Month, as designated by the Character First leadership model.

We are proud to have selected the following employees:

Availability	Bill Burhans	January 2008
Deference	Lari Hylton	February 2008
Compassion	Melissa Craighead	March 2008
Persuasiveness	Jo Nemeth	April 2008
Wisdom	Tracy Novak	May 2008
Alertness	Dolly Hardwick	June 2008
Decisiveness	Mary Watson	July 2008
Joyfulness	Bennie Boston	August 2008
Truthfulness	Ronald Altman	September 2008
Obedience	Mary Grissett	October 2008
Gratefulness	Valerie Mendoza	November 2008
Generosity	Toni Bessent	December 2008

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FOIA Requests [Freedom of Information Act Requests]

FOIA Requests
[Freedom of Information Act Requests]