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Home || Departments & Services || Communications (E-911)

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FOIA Requests: Freedom of Information Act Requests

Request a Radio Traffic, Telephone Call, or Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) Report, with the 911 Tape Request form. [revised January 2009]

911 Tape Request [.doc] 911 Tape Request [.pdf]

Please return completed requests to:

Horry County Public Information Office
PO Box 1236
Conway, SC 29528
Phone: 843.915.5390
FAX: 843.915.6390
e-mail: publicinfo_1@horrycounty.org

Mission Statement:

As the first link in the chain of Public Safety, it is our mission to provide courteous, reliable and professional service to the citizens and visitors of Horry County. We will support all Public Safety agencies with superior communications services through the use of state-of-the-art equipment, effective ongoing training, caring and dedicated employees and by actively seeking ways to improve. To provide our citizens and visitors with a reliable, state-of-the-art, Enhanced 9-1-1 system, manned by well‑trained, courteous call-takers. We will provide timely, lifesaving assistance in all emergencies. We will handle non-emergency calls efficiently and provide accurate information to internal and external callers. We will make timely and accurate changes to the telephone database.

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, Briarcliffe Acres 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 callers in giving help to the sick and injured before medical personnel arrive.

We receive and dispatch calls to Environmental Services officers for issues with domesticated animals, as well as calls for a Litter Control officer. Both of these divisions are under the authority of the Horry County Police Dept.

CAD

Computer Aided Dispatch. Motorola Printrak CAD system is used to enter and track all calls for service. The system provides dispatchers with apparatus recommendations for responses, GIS‑centric mapping, automatic vehicle locator (AVL) information, links to mobile data terminals (MDT) in the field and is the primary repository for incident related information.

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.

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Definitions:

PSAP - Public Safety Answering Point

Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) is a call center responsible for answering calls to an emergency telephone number for police, firefighting, and ambulance services.

E911 - Enhanced 911

A system that associates the caller's telephone number with a physical address and routes the call to the appropriate PSAP, where it is displayed upon answering the call. This allows responders to locate emergencies if the caller is unable to provide the information. Calltakers are taught to verify location information whenever possible.

NCIC - National Crime Information Computer

The FBI National Crime Information Center (NCIC) 2000 is a nationwide information system dedicated to serving and supporting criminal justice agencies -- local, state, and federal -- in their mission to uphold the law and protect the public. This information is for law enforcement use only.

ANI - Automatic Number Identification

Automatic Number Identification corresponds to the subscriber's seven digit telephone number. The ANI displays at the PSAP on the digital ANI display console.

ALI - Automatic Location Identification

Automatic Location Identification provides for an address display of the subscriber calling 911.

APCO - Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials

APCO International is the world's largest organization dedicated to public safety communications. We have been around since 1935 - far longer than any other public safety communications association (visit APCOHistory.org for more on APCO's 70+ year history). More than 15,000 members rely on APCO for their professional needs - from examining standards and issues to providing education, products and services.

NENA: National Emergency Number Association

The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) is an organization whose mission it is to foster the technological advancement, availability, and implementation of a universal emergency telephone number system. One of NENA's main functions is to grade the quality of the 9-1-1 (the Universal Emergency Number since 1968) services that exist throughout the United States of America. ^ top

Major Projects:

AVL

A program to incorporate Automatic Vehicle Locators on all county emergency responders is in place. This project is on-going and allows a dispatcher to see a graphical representation of each apparatus and allow the CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) 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.

All Precinct officers of the police department, the Sheriff's Office deputies, Aynor PD, and all county ambulances have AVL systems in place. The County Fire apparatus will be receiving their equipment soon.

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Awards and Recognition:

Horry County Rescue Squad: For all Services and Assistance Rendered to Us. 1990 Salvation Army: Certificate of Appreciation. September 10, 2006 Parkway Community Baptist Church: Recognition of Service to our Community. "9-1-1 Sunday" October 14, 2007 National Weather Service: Public Service Award. September 26, 2001 APCO/NENA: Team 911 Award, Honorable Mention. October 24, 2003 APCO/NENA: Communication Center of the Year. November 5, 2004 Fire Rescue Station 17 Mt. Vernon Volunteers: Appreciation for your Hard Work and Dedication.

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Interesting Facts:

Horry County 911 Communications is a consolidated center that answers all 911 calls in the county and dispatches police, fire and ambulance calls for all county public safety agencies, as well as Atlantic Beach Police, Aynor Police, Briarcliffe Acres Police, Conway Fire Rescue, Surfside Fire Rescue and the volunteer rescue squads.

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 Law Enforcement (Atlantic Beach, Aynor, County Police and County Sheriff) 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 2009 (July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009) we dispatched a total of 190,962 police, fire and ambulance incidents. 534,712 incoming telephone calls were received and 221,693 of those were 9-1-1 calls. Wireless calls accounted for 61% of 9-1-1 calls. Our lowest number of 9-1-1 calls was in February, when we answered 13,904 calls. The highest monthly total was in July when we received 26,104 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.

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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:

Orderliness	Betsy Spires	January 2009
Forgiveness	Lari Hylton	February 2009
Sincerity	Diane Driver	March 2009
Virtue	Brett Wilburn	April 2009
Honor	Derrick Bratcher	May 2009
Justice	Lynn Gore/Mary Kate Fisher	June 2009
Gentleness	Tammy Sims	July 2009
Faith	Wendy Soles	August 2009
Responsibility	Kecia Malcom	September 2009
Patience	Dwight Thompson	October 2009
Initiative	Emily Larson	November 2009
Self Control	Natasha Morrison	December 2009

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