Our History
In 1979, Lewiston-Auburn 911 Committee was created to establish a 911 answering point for the Cities of Lewiston and Auburn. Although the two cities still held jurisdictional responsibilities for their fire dispatchers, the two agencies merged to Lewiston Central Fire station on 2 College Street. This was the first time Auburn Fire Department did not have ‘In-House’ dispatching services. The Police Departments maintained their own separate dispatch services and some emergency calls were still received through the department’s traditional seven-digit telephone numbers. With the emergence of the 9-1-1 number, these calls were transferred to the respective police department through what was known as a ‘ring-down’ telephone number.
In July 1994, the employer-employee relationships between the Cities and their respective fire dispatchers were severed and transferred to the Lewiston-Auburn 911 Committee. Dispatch operations remained at the Lewiston Fire Department until June of 1996 when construction of the new Lewiston-Auburn 911 Emergency Communications Center was completed. The following November, the Police Department dispatchers transferred to the new Communications Center completing full consolidation of the twin cities’ public safety communications services.
Prior to the consolidation, requests and records management was performed through manual documentation. Currently requests are entered into a CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) system. The computer categorizes calls, recommends equipment and manpower needs, advises of locations, cross streets, and hazards that may be at the location. CAD will also provide activity, which has occurred at the location during the previous 48 hours. Based on the CAD information and in conjunction with agency Standard Operating Procedures, the dispatchers (now known as Public Safety Telecommunicators), dispatch the responding agency to the scene. The Telecommunicator’s responsibility is to maintain communication with units in the field and provide any assistance required by field units.
All public safety communication services for Lewiston and Auburn are accomplished by the Lewiston-Auburn 911 Emergency Communication System. The Communication Center is responsible for entering and modifying incidents into the National Crime Information Center Computer system, National Law Enforcement Telecommunications Systems and the Maine Telecommunications and Radio Operation network. Any use of these highly confidential State and Federal systems is controlled by policy, rules and regulations set forth by both the Maine Department of Public Safety and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
During 2002 alone, the Communications Center entered 104,728 computer entries. 91131 were Police incidents and 13,597 were Fire. These calls included vehicle stops, burning permits, administrative accountability and calls for services for police, fire and medical.
Lewiston-Auburn 911 is one of 48 Statewide Public Safety Answering Points designated by the State of Maine for Enhanced 9-1-1 services. The transformation to Enhanced 911 required numerous modifications to existing equipment, as well as addition of new equipment. There is a current mandate from the State to consolidate PSAP’s to 16-24 regional centers. Lewiston-Auburn 911 is working with county agencies to help facilitate the consolidation.
The Lewiston-Auburn 911 Center is under the direction of Andrew D’Eramo and the Lewiston-Auburn 911 committee consists of the following: Lewiston Police Chief, Auburn Police Chief, Lewiston Fire Chief, Auburn Fire Chief, Lewiston City Councilor, Auburn City Councilor, Lewiston Appointee, Auburn Appointee, and every third year an Appointee from alternating cities (Currently from Auburn). |
