Chapter 25 Public Safety Communications PDF

CHAPTER 25 – PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS REV. APRIL 15, 2014 25.01 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER SECURITY A. Access to the Public Safety Communications Center (PSCC) is restricted to persons having official business with the Public Safety Communications Section and access will be throu...

CHAPTER 25 – PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS REV. APRIL 15, 2014 25.01 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER SECURITY A. Access to the Public Safety Communications Center (PSCC) is restricted to persons having official business with the Public Safety Communications Section and access will be through the security door only. B. Visitors to the PSCC are required to call and request entry, and explain their reasons for entry. C. Upon entry, visitors shall sign the Visitor Log and must be escorted at all times. Upon completing their business, they must sign-out on the Visitor Log. D. The Communications Supervisor or his/her authorized representative shall be immediately made aware of all visitors to the section. 25.02 RADIO STANDARDS AND PROTOCOL A. The Sheriff’s Office radio operations are conducted in accordance with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) procedures and regulations. B. Federal Communications Commission regulations specifically prohibit the following: 1. Transmission of superfluous signals, messages or communications of any kind; 2. Use of profane, indecent or obscene language; 3. Willful damage of radio apparatus; 4. Unlawful or malicious interference with any other radio communications; 5. Interception and use of or publishing the contents of any radio message without the express permission of the Sheriff; 6. Unnecessary or unidentified transmission; 7. Transmission which causes harmful interference; 8. Making any adjustments, repairs or alterations whatsoever to radio transmitter; 9. Allowing anyone other than a professional Radio Technician, holding a Second Class license or higher, to make adjustments and repairs to radio equipment; 10. Denying access to radio equipment to a properly identified representative of the FCC; 11. Failing to make the equipment available for inspection at any reasonable hour; Effective date April 30, 2014 255  12. Transmitting a call signal, letter or numeral which has not been assigned to the station or vehicle. C. Upon conviction for any of the above offenses, the Communications Act of 1934 provides a penalty of not more than $10,000 fine, or not more than 1 year imprisonment, or both, for the first offense. D. No one other than an authorized City, County or Dailey-Wells designated programmer, is authorized to use any Radio Programming Software to read or modify any radio. This would be a violation of several Federal Communications Commission (FCC) guidelines and may constitute a penal code violation. Any radio found to be altered in any way, beyond how it was originally programmed, will be returned to its original programming state, confiscated and forwarded along with a report to the Division Supervisor. E. It is the responsibility of each Dispatcher and Officer in the communications process to disseminate the information with minimum airtime and congestion. F. Emergency communications supersede all other forms of radio communications. G. All voice and data transmissions conducted on any Sheriff’s Office talk group and/or data circuit shall be directly related to Sheriff’s Office business. H. No Officer below the rank of Sergeant may request the Dispatcher to switch to an Open talk group. I. No Officer below the rank of Sergeant will initiate person to person / car to car radio messages unless it is essential information related to an emergency or the Officer has gone through the Dispatcher and the Dispatcher has cleared the transmission. J. All voice and data transactions over Sheriff’s Office talk groups and/or data circuits are recorded or logged primarily for the purpose of legal documentation and are available for review by supervisory personnel. K. Dispatchers will notify the Communications Supervisor of unauthorized radio transmissions made by Field Personnel. 25.03 RADIO ISSUANCE AND USAGE A. The Sheriff’s Office supports an Issued Radio environment for Officers assigned to the Law Enforcement tier. B. The use of personal radios (i.e. not owned by a governmental entity) regardless of intent, is not authorized. Unauthorized radios will be disabled and persons may be subject to disciplinary and/or criminal or civil penalties. C. Upon being assigned to the Law Enforcement tier, Officers will be provided a radio, speaker microphone, battery charger and spare battery. Officers are fiscally responsible for the care and custody of the assigned equipment. Any equipment lost / stolen / damaged due to negligence will be replaced or repaired at the expense of the Officer. Effective date April 30, 2014 256 D. All radio equipment is managed by the Public Safety Communications Manager. Any radio that is lost or stolen must be immediately reported to the Public Safety Communications Manager. E. Dailey-Wells Communications is the vendor responsible for supporting and maintaining the County’s radio infrastructure. Radios requiring repair will be taken to them. Major repairs which necessitate the issuance of a spare radio will be coordinated through the Public Safety Communications Manager or BCSO Radio Services personnel. F. Issued LE radios are aliased by employee number and programmed based upon rank and assignment. Any promotion or change in assignment MUST be coordinated with the Public Safety Communications Manager and/or BCSO Radio Services personnel. G. Radios issued to civilians or non-LE Officers are aliased by call sign. These radios use the letter “C” prior to the call sign to indicate that the radio alias correlates to a call sign and not an employee number. H. Officers will use their assigned call sign when working on-duty. If an Officer has an individually assigned call sign because they are assigned to a specialized unit, they may continue to use the call sign when working off-duty. Otherwise, when off-duty, Officers will use the word “ECHO” followed by their employee number to identify themselves in an immediate emergency. This will help the dispatcher identify you quickly in CAD. I. When working off-duty, Officers will ONLY monitor / listen to groups that would normally be active in the area. For example, an Officer working on the East side of the County is not authorized to listen to SO WEST. Doing so potentially reduces the performance of the system. J. When working off-duty, Officers will ONLY transmit on the SO INFO channel unless specifically advised by a Dispatcher or Communications Supervisor. K. Officers working off-duty will do the following when starting and ending their off-duty assignments: 1. Notify the Information Dispatcher, by PHONE, and advise them of the location and nature of the assignment; 2. Provide your CAD ID (BCLE + Employee Number); 3. The Dispatcher will start your tour in CAD using either your call sign or one which is assigned from the off-duty pool. 4. Upon finishing your tour of duty, contact the Information Dispatcher, by PHONE, and advise them that your assignment is complete. L. When working off-duty, Officer’s will only transmit under the following circumstances: 1. Declaring an Emergency; 2. Requesting a DL, Registration or Wanted/Stolen Check; Effective date April 30, 2014 257  3. Informing the Public Safety Communications Center of an incident that requires immediate assistance only after exhausting all other forms of communication such as the use of cellular phones; 4. Requesting an incident number or case number (if access to cellular phone is unavailable). 25.04 RADIO SYSTEM OPERATIONS A. The Radio System is designed to provide 95% countywide coverage. It does this by using multiple tower sites spread strategically throughout the County. B. Specifically, there are two simulcast systems which provide the primary coverage footprint. One is used by the County, City Local Government, San Antonio Fire Department, and all of the external agencies while the other is used by the San Antonio Police Department. There are an additional six (6) Remote Sites that provide coverage in the fringe areas of the County. C. Under normal operating conditions, radios used within the Sheriff’s Office will automatically switch between the sites to maintain radio communications accessibility. However, if the system suffers a critical failure, the ability for the radios to automatically switch between the sites and the ability for the system to route radio traffic to all the sites simultaneously will be lost. In this situation, the system will continue to provide coverage and access but will do so in a fragmented state. For example, an Officer on one of the remote sites will not be able to hear the traffic generated by another Officer on another site even though they may be on the same group. D. If a failure of this magnitude occurs, Officers may need to manually adjust their radios to the appropriate tower site based upon the area they are working in. In the event of a complete failure of the simulcast system supporting Bexar County operations, the use of pre-designated Mutual Aid talk groups will be used. The Public Safety Communications Center will provide all available resources to Officers of these talk groups as needed. E. As a result, specific alpha names will be used to properly identify radio talk groups. With very few exceptions, the first two characters will clearly identify the Agency / Department / Office. F. All Radio System users share a common set of Mutual Aid talk groups designed to provide better coordination between agencies when working together during critical incidents or other large events. They may be used for on-the-fly interoperability purposes or for pre-planned public safety events where the need to communicate with multiple agencies is required. They are managed and assigned by the Public Safety Communications Center. G. If one of these talk groups is needed to support an event, a formal request must be made at least five (5) days in advance of the event and include a detailed schedule of when the event will start and end. H. Interagency radio interoperability has been built into the radio templates programmed in the radios used within the Sheriff’s Office. Every radio on the radio system has a talk group called COMMON. This talk group is in the last knob position of most every bank in the radio. This group is not a “chat” talk group; it is designed to support immediate interoperability. It can be used to support two Officers exchanging officer safety related information or it can be used to support interagency communications for a developing, but not yet stabilized, critical incident. In addition to COMMON, the Effective date April 30, 2014 258 operational talk groups of SAPD and SAFD are in the templates. Officers will not use any non-BCSO managed talk group without specific direction to do so. To communicate with TXDPS VHF-only users, and agencies operating on the Randolph Metro Emergency Communications System (RMECS), an additional set of talk groups (DPS BASE, VCALL10, TXCALL1D, LC_SAC, BEX_LAW, LC_SA_1, BEXFIRE, and LC_SA_2) are programmed into the radios. These talk groups are not to be used unless advised to do so by the Public Safety Communications Center. Under normal circumstances, these talk groups will be patched by the Public Safety Communications Center to existing BCSO operational talk groups. 25.05 CALL SIGN STRUCTURE A. The use of call signs assists Dispatchers and others identify the Agency/ Department / Office and user when receiving or transmitting on the radio system. Additionally, they enhance Law Enforcement service and Officer Safety by providing an effective professional means of communicating with other radio system users without confusion. Call signs are constantly being issued and reordered to effectively maximize the dynamic needs of the Sheriff’s Office. For a complete list of operational call signs, refer to the Web Portal and/or contact the Public Safety Communications Manager. B. All of the Divisions, Sections and Units use call sign series of a numeric nature except Patrol Services and Special Operations who use a combination of numbers and alpha characters. The alpha characters either represent the response area (district) or the specialized function that the call sign is associated. For example, 1A10 designates a first shift patrol unit working in A10’s response area whereas 5T76 designates a Traffic unit. 25.06 EMERGENCY SIGNALING A. Three alert tones are used for Emergency signaling: 1. Alert 1 (Monotone) - Weather and other “administrative” alerts. 2. Alert 2 (Single tone - Pulse) - ATL’s, BOLO’s and Wrong Way Driver alerts. 3. Alert 3 (Dual tone – Warble) – Priority Emergency alerts. B. Officers that initiate the emergency button on a portable or mobile radio will cause the alias to appear in red on the Dispatcher’s radio console display. All Officers monitoring the talk group where the emergency was declared will see their radio display flash with the word “*EMERG*” and the numeric ID (LID) of the Officer’s radio who declared the emergency. C. Radios assigned to the Sheriff’s Office and to internal and external law enforcement agencies that we sponsor on the radio system have a RECEIVE ONLY Group programmed called LE ALERT. This talk group is used to relay important / emergency information to all BCSO and Outside Agencies only. It will not interfere with other County Law Enforcement agencies and operations. An example of when it may be used would be for Honor Guard Ceremonies. D. The radio console display will begin to emit an emergency tone, alerting the Dispatcher to possible Officer Distress. E. Dispatchers who have an Officer that has activated the emergency tone will: Effective date April 30, 2014 259  1. Clear the air of all transmission; 2. Call the Officer by call number once, allowing the Officer sufficient time to answer; 3. Initiate the Alert 3 tone and broadcast the location of the Officer as an “Officer In-Trouble.” The broadcast message will be done by using the “BCLE” module on the Dispatch Console. This module allows the dispatcher to broadcast the emergency on all County Law Enforcement talk groups; 4. The Dispatcher will initiate the emergency tone advising “Officer’s call number” has initiated the emergency tone at an unknown location. F. The use of the Alert 3 tone is normally due to the Dispatcher receiving a pre-classified incident from a citizen via the Call-Taker. The Alert 3 tone is used on all problem natures that have an EMERGENCY priority except for Wrong Way Drivers. Wrong Way Driver alerts are made using the Alert 2 tone. The use of Alert 2 and 3 tones in this case will be transmitted on the “SO PATRL” Fleet Call module. G. Initiating the Alert 3 tone serves several purposes: 1. It alerts the Officers in the field to stand-by for emergency transmissions; 2. It gives the Officers a few seconds to break away from what they are doing and to direct full attention to the Dispatcher; 3. It causes Officers who are on a call to break away whenever possible; 4. It alerts the Dispatchers and Officers on the other talk groups to hold their transmissions; 5. If an Officer is on the scene, it gives confirmation that the Dispatcher understands the situation, and that help is needed and is on the way. 25.07 PHONETIC ALPHABET A. When relaying license plate information or spelling a person’s name, all personnel will use the following Phonetic Alphabet. B. The Phonetic Alphabet in use at the Sheriff’s Office is based on the International Standard and is used by the majority of agencies to include the United States Military. A Alpha J Juliet S Sierra B Bravo K Kilo T Tango C Charlie L Lima U Uniform D Delta M Mike V Victor E Echo N November W Whisky Effective date April 30, 2014 260 F Foxtrot O Oscar X X-Ray G Golf P Papa Y Yankee H Hotel Q Quebec Z Zulu I India R Romeo 25.08 TEN (10) CODES The following 10-Codes are the only authorized codes to be used within the Sheriff’s Office: 10-30 Officer in Trouble 10-96 Mental Patients 10-99 Stolen/Wanted 25.09 DISPATCH DEMEANOR A. The Dispatcher's voice should give the distinct impression that he/she is alert and ready for any contingency. Words or voice inflections which when broadcast project or indicate irritation, disgust, or sarcasm will not be used. B. Dispatchers will remain assertive and professional in their radio transmissions. Professionalism does not necessitate phrases such as "thank you" or "please" or by offering an apology for giving an Officer a call. Be absolutely impersonal while on the air. Avoid using "I" or "You" or proper names. Concentrate on using the third person language and usage of call numbers. 25.10 ANSWERING OF OFFICERS A. Officer’s complete call numbers are utilized when communicating with an Officer. B. Disseminate the information to Officers with minimum airtime and congestion. C. Although the dispatching of calls has a top priority with regard to airtime, this will not take precedence over responding to an Officer. A dispatcher MUST respond to the officer (by using their Unit Name) within in two seconds. This does not mean the Dispatcher must fulfill the request by the Officer but they must acknowledge them and either advise them to proceed or advise them to stand-by if circumstances warrant. D. Dispatchers will not attempt to answer questions of a procedural or supervisory nature, and will refer the inquiry to a Public Safety Communications Supervisor or Field Supervisor. E. All reasonable requests made by Field Supervisors will be complied with, unless the request is a clear violation of a Departmental regulation, then the Dispatcher will notify the Public Safety Communications Supervisor for a decision with regard to the Division’s involvement. Effective date April 30, 2014 261 25.11 RELAYING OF INFORMATION A. The Dispatcher will give general information requested by an Officer if airtime permits. B. Any message received for relaying to Officers will not be altered unless it is determined that the information is inaccurate, in which case, the Public Safety Communications Supervisor will be notified of any changes. C. Speak clearly and use concise professional pronunciation, avoid phrases and words that are difficult to understand. D. The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office uses twenty-four hour time. This eliminates the confusion over times of the day or night and eliminates the need of the terms A.M. and P.M. E. Exact dates and times should be used. Do not use general dates and times. Example: "September 10" instead of today, yesterday or tomorrow. Exact hour and minute instead of "a few minutes ago", etc. 25.12 BROADCASTING A. Broadcast all major incidents, including silent alarms, even when Officers are not available at the time; perhaps an Officer may be able to break away from an already assigned incident and respond. B. Numbers should be broadcast first individually and then as the whole number. For example, 7,617 should be transmitted 7,6,1,7 (pause) seven thousand, six hundred and seventeen. C. Broadcast or obtain physical descriptions in sequence: 1. Name 2. Race (White, Black, Hispanic, etc.) 3. Sex 4. Age 5. Height 6. Weight 7. Hair 8. Eyes 9. Complexion 10. Physical (marks, scars, limp, etc.) 11. Clothing (head to foot) Effective date April 30, 2014 262 D. Broadcast or obtain vehicle descriptions in sequence: 1. Color 2. Year 3. Make 4. Body Style 5. Any other descriptive information 6. License 7. State E. Keeping officer safety in mind, when an Officer checks for wanted or warrants and the subject is active, the Dispatcher will check to ensure the Officer’s radio is secure and when advised that it is, will relay the active warrant information to the Officer. F. NCIC Policy states that the radio will not be used routinely for the transmission of criminal history beyond that information necessary to effect an immediate identification or to ensure adequate safety for the Officers and the general public. G. Only when the Officer has determined that there is an immediate need for the information to further an investigation, or there is a situation affecting the safety of the Officers or the General Public, will the Dispatcher broadcast details of the Criminal History record over the air. 25.13 BROADCASTING OFFICERS PERSONAL INFORMATION A. An Officer’s name and address will not be broadcast over the air. B. When the Public Safety Communications Center receives a request from Court Liaison personnel to assist in locating an Officer that they are unable to reach, the Dispatcher will do the following: 1. When an Officer is dispatched to deliver a message to another Officer at their residence, the Dispatcher will use the MDC to relay the information to the responding Officer; 2. If the MDC is not available, the Dispatcher will have the responding Officer call the Information channel for the information pertaining to the Officer’s name and residence. 25.14 OFFICER FAILS TO ACKNOWLEDGE / RESPOND TO THE DISPATCHER A. Units that do not update their status to Responding (RESP) after being assigned to a Dispatched (DISP) status need to be checked on by the Dispatcher over the radio. Any unit which fails to update their status and/or fails to actually respond after updating their status will be reported to the Patrol Supervisor and the Public Safety Communications Supervisor. The Patrol Sergeant responsible for the unit along with the Patrol Lieutenant on duty shall be notified by using the Paging feature in CAD. Effective date April 30, 2014 263 B. Units ONSCENE of Non-Emergency and Report Only incidents for 30 minutes need to be checked on by the Dispatcher over the radio. These types of incidents generally should not take more than 30 minutes to handle; there will be exceptions. If the unit requires additional time, ask them how much and reset the timer for the amount requested. At no time will a timer be reset for more than 20 minutes without the approval of a Patrol Supervisor. If the second timer goes off for the same incident, notify the Patrol Supervisor and Public Safety Communications Supervisor. The Patrol Sergeant responsible for the unit along with the Patrol Lieutenant on duty shall be notified by using the Paging feature in CAD. 25.15 VEHICLE PURSUITS (SEE CHAPTER 13 FOR MORE DETAILS) A. All routine transmissions cease once an Officer informs the Dispatcher they are involved in a chase / pursuit. B. Identify the Officer, location, direction of travel, offense, and the initiating time. C. Notify a Field Supervisor immediately and get verbal confirmation that the pursuit is authorized. D. If no Supervisor is available, the pursuit will be TERMINATED per policy. The Dispatcher will advise the Officer accordingly and receive verbal confirmation that the Officer has discontinued the pursuit. E. Broadcast the vehicle description and the reason the vehicle is being pursued and speed (if requested by the Sergeant). F. Identify and designate the first Officer arriving to assist the primary vehicle as the secondary unit. G. The secondary Officer will broadcast the chase/pursuit. H. According to policy, only two (2) marked units may be involved in a pursuit unless authorized by the Managing Supervisor. I. Obtain a case number, and insure that all Officers involved are assigned to the case. J. Keep Dispatchers in adjacent Sectors / Areas advised if the pursuit appears likely to enter into or come close to their areas. K. All pursuits will be handled on the initiating talk group; routine traffic will be switched to a tactical talk group. L. The Dispatcher will attempt to document the different locations throughout the chase/pursuit, and the times of important incidents that occur. 25.16 FOOT PURSUITS A. Dispatchers that are advised by an Officer that they are involved in a foot pursuit will discontinue normal traffic and clear the talk group. Effective date April 30, 2014 264 B. Broadcast that a foot pursuit / chase is in progress, giving: 1. Unit number; 2. Location; 3. Direction of travel; 4. Description of suspect; 5. Nature of offense; 6. Weapon information (if known). C. Ensure adequate cover Officers are en route. D. All pursuits will be handled on the initiating talk group; routine traffic will be switched to a tactical talk group. E. Assign a quadrant if necessary. F. Notify the Field Sergeant. G. Notify K9, if in service, or if requested by a Field Supervisor after hours. H. Notify DPS Aircraft, if in service, or SAPD Eagle to coordinate air support. 25.17 DISPATCHING AND ASSIGNING CALLS A. The Sheriff’s Office has a responsibility to respond with a degree of promptness appropriate to the situation. While the priority spectrum and degree of urgency is wide, each incident is extremely important to the individual placing it. For this reason, Dispatchers are not restricted to Response Area boundaries, or even rank (under exceptional circumstances) when assigning incidents. B. Incidents are assigned to uniformed personnel under a dual concept, which is: 1. An incident is not held for any reason (including shift change or special needs calls); and, 2. Assigning the Officers nearest to the location, who are available for service, provides the most prompt response. C. Routine / Normal Priority Incident Transmission Sequence 1. After reviewing the recommendations and making any appropriate adjustments, the Dispatcher will fully verbalize the Unit Names of the responding units (Primary -1st, Cover – 2nd) AND immediately announce the “problem nature”, and address of the incident. While the dispatcher verbalizes the incident on the radio, they will “Commit” the units in the CAD. Effective date April 30, 2014 265  When the units update their status on the MDC, the Dispatcher will acknowledge the status change. 2. Dispatchers will ONLY allow those units recommended by CAD to be assigned to any incident unless overridden by a Supervisor or in those extreme cases where more than two are required such as when establishing a quadrant. Other units may choose to move in the direction of the incident but will remain in an AVAILABLE status and be subject assignment to another incident. 3. Officers in a DISP status have the responsibility to acknowledge the assignment and update their status to RESP; this update is preferably done by using the MDC but can also be done verbally by radio. D. Priority Emergency Incident Transmission Sequence 1. Priority Emergency incidents are preceded by an Alert 3 tone and are immediately broadcast simultaneously over all primary Sheriff’s Office talk groups using SO PATRL. Officer in Trouble incidents require the use of BCLE to ensure maximum dissemination. 2. After reviewing the recommendations and making any appropriate adjustments, the Dispatcher will fully verbalize the Unit Names of the responding units (Primary -1st, Cover – 2nd) AND immediately announce the Problem Nature, and address of the incident. While the dispatcher verbalizes the incident on the radio, they will “Commit” the units in the CAD. When the units update their status on the MDC, the Dispatcher will acknowledge the status change. 3. Dispatchers will ONLY allow those units recommended by CAD to be assigned to any incident unless overridden by a Supervisor or in those extreme cases where more than two are required such as when establishing a quadrant. Other units may choose to move in the direction of the incident but will remain in an AVAILABLE status and be subject assignment to another incident. 4. Officers in a DISP status have the responsibility to acknowledge the assignment and update their status to RESP; this update is preferably done by using the MDC but can also be done audibly by radio. 5. All radio communications not directly related to the emergency call are suspended until information is received from the first unit arriving at the scene and the scene is secure. The first Officer arriving on the scene will advise the Dispatcher and give preliminary details regarding the call. E. Use of Officers from Other Agencies Effective date April 30, 2014 266  1. The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office is the sole agency responsible for responding to requests for service in unincorporated Bexar County. Constables, Municipal Police Departments (China Grove, Elmendorf, Hill Country Village, Hollywood Park, Shavano Park, Somerset, Von Ormy) or School District Police Departments (East Central, Judson, Somerset, Southside, Southwest) that are provided services by the Public Safety Communications Center will NOT be dispatched to any BCSO incidents except: a. Officer in Trouble incidents. b. Premises like schools where another LE agency has primary jurisdiction. c. Addresses / Premises that are in unincorporated Bexar County but are immediately adjacent to or surrounded by Hill Country Village, Hollywood Park, or Shavano Park. These police departments have agreed to initially respond (due to their proximity) along with the recommended Sheriff’s Office unit(s). If they arrive and find nothing that would require a continued Sheriff’s Office response, they will handle and cancel the Sheriff’s Office unit(s). Otherwise, they will secure the scene pending the arrival of Sheriff’s Office unit(s). d. As authorized by a Patrol Services Captain or higher authority. 2. These agencies will not be allowed to “volunteer” to respond to any Sheriff’s Office incident in any capacity other than what is listed above or if the actual incident falls inside their jurisdictional city limits unless authorized or requested by a Patrol Supervisor. They may choose to go on their own but they will not be assigned to the incident unless authorized. 25.18 MDC USAGE A. MDC messages are restricted to the furtherance of Sheriff’s Office related goals and objectives. B. MDC messages, like all other law enforcement communications are accessible to the media and the public through the Public Records Act, or by subpoena. C. All MDC messages are subject to audit by authorized users. D. Derogatory remarks or negative opinions about co-workers, Supervisors or Officers are prohibited. Complaining about or criticizing an Officer or co-worker on the MDC is prohibited. E. MDC messages of a personal nature are not authorized. F. Improper use of the MDC messaging system may result in the employee being denied access to the system for a specified period of time, or other appropriate corrective / disciplinary action. Effective date April 30, 2014 267 25.19 TELEPHONE ETIQUETTE A. The Public Safety Communications Center is often the first contact a citizen has with the Sheriff’s Office. In most instances, callers are under some kind of stress; consequently, they may not be as polite as they would be under normal circumstances. B. All calls will be answered promptly, courteously and professionally. Calls received through the ACD will be answered, “Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, this is (name), how may I help you?” Calls received through 9-1-1 will be answered, “Bexar County 9-1-1, what is location of the Emergency?” E. All callers are to be treated in a kind, patient and respectful manner. Rudeness will not be tolerated in the Public Safety Communications Center. G. If a caller insists on speaking to a Supervisor, they will be transferred to one as soon as possible. H. Employees are never to chastise a citizen for utilizing the 9-1-1 number for a non-emergency call. Obtain the information needed to send the call and politely inform the citizen of the non- emergency number. NOTE: All inbound and outbound telephone circuits are recorded and may be subpoenaed and used in court. The disclosure of any audio recordings associated with these circuits by anyone without direct authorization to do so is a criminal offense. Effective date April 30, 2014 268