Police Department

Police Communications, home to over 140 civilian employees, has the primary responsibility of answering all 9-1-1 calls within the city limits. Additionally, Communications houses several specialized units providing services for citizens, officers and detectives. In the early days, call takers relayed cards with call details written on them to the dispatchers by a conveyor belt. The dispatchers tracked unit availability and location by sticking the cards in the slot that corresponded with the unit’s call sign. Let’s just say, Communications has come a long way technologically.

Our dispatchers now use state of the art computers, phone and network systems to complete their duties. Police Communications, a twenty-four hour a day/365 day a year operation, answers approximately 1.2 million calls from citizens each year and dispatches officers to over 300,000 of those calls. Throughout these daily operations, Communications has provided support and direction to officers involved in emergency situations ranging from pursuits to critical police incidents. Police Communications is responsible for monitoring six primary talk groups, assigned geographically throughout the city on a Motorola P25 800 MHz trunked radio system. In addition to monitoring and dispatching on the six talk groups; our dispatchers are responsible for monitoring and responding to requests on countless other talk groups.

Our agency is now Phase II compliant and receives latitude/longitude data from Phase II compliant cellular phones during 9-1-1 calls. Each 911 Operator position is equipped with Positron PowerMap and capable of then processing that latitude/longitude data to receive an actual location on the mapping software. PIC or Police Information Center provides teletype, criminal history checks and warrant/property checks for field personnel. They process nearly 400,000 requests from officers and other agencies each year. Additionally, PIC enters and maintains all records of the Fort Worth Police Department that are appropriate for the TCIC/NCIC computer systems.

CRIU or Communications Research and Investigation provides audio tapes for approximately 4,000 cases and investigations annually. Additionally, this employee compiles statistics on response times and total calls for the division. CRIU collects data for and responds to open records requests for statistics, telephone recordings and other pertinent information. Call Center Analyst reviews and analyzes call volume and average handle time as a means to establish staffing levels to effectively handle call volume. Analyst generates staff schedules using analytic software. In the future with the implementation of upgraded phone technology and additional fiber optics, this position will be greatly enhanced allowing the analyst to analyze data in real time.

If you have a police, fire, or medical emergency, dial 9-1-1. Our 10-digit emergency number is: (817) 927-4420. For non-emergency matters, call (817) 392-4222. For administrative concerns, please contact us at (817) 392-3200.

Alternative non-emergency reporting options are as follows:

1. For CFW Call Center issues that would normally go to 817-392-1234, you can go online to https://police.fortworthtexas.gov/OnlineServices/file-a-police-report with several options to report issues to City staff.
2. To report information about criminal activity, you can also visit Tarrant County Crime Stoppers at: http://469tips.com/