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March, 2007
PSAP Profile – League City Police Department League City is on the border of the GHC 9-1-1 territory next to Galveston County. It is a growing city with 60,000 citizens and growing. League City recently annexed some areas of the county which has expanded the police department’s service area. It is important for dispatchers and telecommmunicators to become familiar with its jurisdiction soon after an annexation takes place. The League City Police Department Communications division includes four 9-1-1 Vesta workstations, 16 telecommunicators and seven supervisors.
The police department is moving forward with new technologies, although Coordinator Marcia Cox states that all of the next generation technologies that callers are using to contact 9-1-1 could be overwhelming to a communications department.
League City Police Department handled 4,185 calls for service for the month of January. The total calls to 9-1-1 was 1,900 with 1,200 (63%) of those calls from wireless phones.
 Supervisor Profile: Marcia CoxThe very first 9-1-1 call in League City was answered by 9-1-1 Coordinator Marcia Cox. A 9-1-1 coordinator for 5 years, she has worked in dispatch for the League City Police Department since 1980. Her most favorite part of emergency communications is that she is making a difference and helping the community. She doesn’t worry about stressful calls, but feels it is important to know the basics of call-taking and be prepared for the unexpected.
Most Memorable call – A call with NO RECORD FOUND that involved a male who called to say he was committing suicide. He gave his address and hung up. The caller was in the backyard with his kids, and shot himself after he hung up. Cox explained she needed to get onto the next call and hoped that the information she relayed was correct. The second call was a non-emergency. “You never know what you will get,” said Cox. Cox’s advice to telecommunicators and dispatchers – “You cannot ever be lazy. It is important to always expect the unexpected.
Assistant Chief Ratliff commented “Marcia is our saving grace. I could not make it without her.”
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