The Woburn Police Department is the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) for the city. Every Officer and Reserve Officer assigned to duty in the Dispatch Center has been trained in the use of the 911 system at a state training facility. Every supervisor assigned to duty in the Dispatch Center has also been trained. The officers assigned to dispatch duty also answer calls made to 781-933-1212 as well as radio calls and assist with citizen who come to the station.
The system provides the desk officer with basic information about the call. If the call is placed from a land-line the desk officer will see the following information on his terminal: the address of the caller, the name of person or company on the phone bill, the phone number of the caller, a disability indicator if there is one (see below for more information), and a map with the location of the call showing.
If the call is made from a cellular phone, the call will be first routed to one of 4 special Massachusetts State Police call centers staffed by call screeners who will direct the call to Woburn. Along with the caller’s telephone number, a map showing the location of the cellular phone to within about 50 meters.
The 911 equipment is provided by a fee charged to all telephone users in Massachusetts. The state selected Verizon to install and maintain the equipment. The status of the 911 equipment is monitored by a special Verizon center located here in Massachusetts
If a call is a medical aid call or a fire call, the call will be transferred to the Woburn Fire Department.
If your telephone service is provided through a vendor using Voice over IP – VoIP – such as Vonage, you need to contact them and make sure your address is correct.
During 2009, the Dispatch Center answered 14,293 calls made to 911.
The 911 system has a special notification feature that informs a dispatcher that a person who has a disability is at a location. This feature applies to land-line telephones only.
This feature adds a notation to the call information screen seen by the dispatcher that a person at the calling number has a disability.
To activate this feature, a form must be completed and signed and sent to the Woburn Police Department. The form may be mailed, faxed, or emailed, at your convenience.
To obtain the form, Woburn residents or persons working in Woburn should obtain a Disability Indicator Form. If you live or work in another community, please contact that police department to see how they process these forms.