From your cell phone, you dial 9-1-1 and when the call is answered you may hear the words “California Highway Patrol”. The following information clarifies the process for routing 9-1-1 calls.

In Contra Costa County and cities, a 9-1-1 call from a residence or business land-line goes to the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Dispatch Center. Not so for a cellular 9-1-1 phone call.

When you dial 9-1-1 from a land-line, the dispatcher will receive computer aided information such as police, fire and medical jurisdictions, telephone number making the call, and the address the call is being made from.

When a person calls 9-1-1 on a cell phone, the call is captured by the nearest cellular tower and directly routed to the nearest California Highway Patrol (CHP) dispatch center. In most of the county, calls go to the CHP dispatch center in Vallejo. When a dispatcher receives a wireless 9-1-1 call, the only information the dispatcher normally receives is the cell phone number making the call. The dispatcher will inquire as to the location of the caller and will transfer the call to the appropriate local dispatch center if needed.

If you make a cellular 9-1-1 call it is important to stay on the line and provide the dispatcher with the exact location of the emergency to ensure the help can be dispatched to the correct location. The CHP dispatch center in Vallejo received over 2 million cellular 9-1-1 calls last year. Some cellular users prefer to program their local police and fire dispatch numbers into their cell phone to speed up the emergency process, and save the loss of time involved in the transferring of the call.

Cellular phone users in these service areas can program the following local numbers into their cell phones. However, if you are outside the local service area, you will be calling the wrong dispatch center, and you will experience a transfer delay.

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