The Umatilla County Communications Division and 911 Regional Dispatch Center is the first point of contact for most citizens who live in Umatilla County when they call for police, fire, ambulance or other kinds of assistance. Our center is housed in the Umatilla County Criminal Justice Center in Pendleton, OR. We receive emergency 911, and non-emergency calls from the cities of Adams, Athena, Echo, Helix, Hermiston, Meacham, Pendleton, Pilot Rock, Stanfield, Ukiah, Umatilla and Weston, as well as from the unincorporated areas of Umatilla County. Our center dispatches for 27 public safety agencies throughout the region, including the Umatilla County Sheriff's Office, Union Pacific Railroad Officers, the U.S. Forest Service Officers and for all Police, Fire and Medical agencies for the cities listed above.

We are staffed by 17 full-time Telecommunicators/Emergency Medical Dispatchers, who are trained and certified by the State of Oregon. They are supervised by 3 Communications Sergeants and Captain Karen Primmer, who is responsible for overseeing the operations of the Communication Division. Telecommunicators/EMDs must obtain and maintain certifications through the Department of Public Safety and Standards Training (DPSST) for the areas of Law Enforcement Telecommunications and Emergency Medical Dispatch, and must attend and graduate from the State Telecommunications Academy's course in Salem, OR. They must abide by all State and Federal guidelines regarding the access and distribution of the confidential information in regional records management system, the Law Enforcement Data System (LEDS) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).

Citizens calling our center may do so either on one of our 911 lines or business lines. When doing so, each citizen's call is answered by a caring and thoroughly trained Communications Specialist who provides aid, comfort, and information in a citizen's time of need. Our 911 callers are provided with medical pre-arrival instructions, assistance in handling in progress emergencies, help in mediating disputes and/or domestic situations, access to a language line for non-English speaking persons, and information and referrals to other Municipal, County, State and/or Federal agencies for assistance. In addition to our primary responsibility of providing police, fire and medical responses, our communications center is also responsible for entering and confirming county and municipal warrants, restraining orders, no contact orders, stalking orders, runaways and missing persons, stolen vehicles, guns and other stolen property into LEDS and the local records database.