THURSTON COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS
"CAPCOM" (Capital Communications)
CAPCOM is a countywide Enhanced 9-1-1 Public Safety
Answering Point (PSAP) and Dispatch Center for all Public Safety Police,
Fire and Medic One departments serving all of the cities, towns and
unincorporated areas within Thurston County.
It was formed in 1970, and consolidated from separate police and
fire dispatch locations prior to that time.
There are 7 police agencies offering police protection, and 18
fire departments that offer fire protection and tiered emergency medical
response, which is overseen by the Medic One System.
Our Center operates 24 hours per day and 7 days per week to answer both
9-1-1 and 7 digit emergency calls from the public, insuring an
appropriate level of response is sent based on protocols provided by and
agreed to by law enforcement and fire agencies that we serve.
CONSOLIDATION
The
consolidation of dispatch and 9-1-1 services was viewed as a clear
benefit to the citizens of the county. By coming together it allowed all
emergency telephone calls to be answered in a central location and all
police, fire and emergency medical dispatches handled through a single
agency.
To
effect this consolidation it was clear that to protect the interest of
each and every participating department a separate set of Boards needed
to be established to ensure autonomy for the department and prevent any
one jurisdiction from controlling the direction of the consolidated
effort.
The
Operations Board was created to identify and address the operational
day-to-day issues and requirements of the department for the Director to
implement. Representatives from the primary departments as well as the
small departments were appointed. They are the Police Chiefs, Fire
Chiefs, Fire Chiefs Association, the Medic One Administrator and the
Undersheriff.
The
Administration Board was created to assure fiscal responsibility and act
as a final budget approval authority. This Board is made up of elected
officials representing the same jurisdictions as mentioned above except
that the Sheriff serves on this Board, Medic One is not represented, and
the Fire Commissioners Association instead of the Fire Chiefs
Association is represented.
The
Boards receive input from the Director and Staff and there are two
Standing Committees that operate under the authority of the Operations
Board. They are the Law Enforcement Radio Users Committee, and the Fire
Liaison Committee. As their
names imply, they represent the needs of the agencies they represent and
operate on a more technical basis providing recommendations and issues
to the Operations Board for Consideration.
It
was necessary to incorporate the departmental budget into one of the
member jurisdictions budget and have that agency provide "umbrella
services" for the department. The County stepped forward to meet
that need with mutual agreement and provides the facility necessary to
house the department, financial services, a personnel department, legal
services and maintenance for the facility.
The Department pays a lease cost to the County for the facility
space. That cost is based on the actual cost for utilities, maintenance
custodial services and grounds maintenance.
In addition, the 3 departments agreed to contribute an additional
7% annually to a building reserve fund to assure timely replacements of
major building components (such as HVAC, carpet, painting, roof
replacement etc.). These replacements have been projected and agreed to
by the occupants and prevent the need to borrow when failures occur.
The
department was located in the building #3 of the County Courthouse from
1978 through 1998. In 1999,
it was relocated to the Thurston County Emergency Services Center in
Olympia. The building
houses CAPCOM, Medic One and Thurston County Emergency Management.
The
Department operates as a County department under county rules and
regulations. Because of its
24-hour operation and essential services function, some variances have
been made to those rules to assure its ability to fulfill its mission.
There
are numerous major systems operated by CAPCOM for the safety of all
agencies served. They
include: