Fairly Recent Comm Center Pictures

This is the "Green" radio position, which handles Santa Cruz County, San Benito County and about two-thirds of Santa Clara County. You can see the Avtec touch-screen radio in use, as well as the two CAD screens. The terminal on the left is the "Unit Status" screen, and the terminal on the right is the 'work area' where calls, computer returns and other information is displayed. (An active incident is currently displayed on this monitor.)

Here's a slightly different angle, with some information displayed as the COII reviews the return prior to relaying the pertinent information to the requesting field unit.

The monitor platform and the keyboard area can be adjusted to raise or lower independantly of each other. The keyboard area can also be tilted. At this particular time, the dispatchers have not yet switched to the "Stealth Mode" where they turn off the overhead flourescent lights. (That normally happens after regular business hours, when clerical and administrative staff have left for the day. Otherwise, they can't find their way around in there....)

The individual halogen lamps are extremely versatile and can be extended and tilted for direct or indirect lighting. (These are interim lamps in these photos - the vendor supplied lamps that only turn on or off, even though we ordered lamps with "two-level" lighting. I guess ON and OFF is "two levels," huh?) The dispatchers were relieved to discover the new ones, while a little less classy-looking, are more useful than the first installed set.

Here's a view of the Service Desk position with the auxillary radio console (which is useful for monitoring trainees without sitting right at their elbows, or as an additional position if a special event requires alternate communications). As you can see, we've lessened the "stark" operational appearance with some decorative touches.

And in this photo of another Service Desk position (with the terminal signed off), you can see the TV set we've installed in the Comm Center. It's up high, out of the way, and certain Service Desk consoles are favored by the dispatchers for the best view... (Two of the four service desk positions face the opposite wall.) Dispatchers working Radio consoles don't have a direct view, but that's the way we planned it; if it's busy, your attention is needed at your Radio. If it's not, well, you can turn in your chair to watch whatever the consensus of dispatchers has chosen to view. There's a VCR attached to the TV set, because we don't have cable and the reception is only good on two of the three broadcast channels received in the Comm Center.

And here's an example of a "mellow" moment for the Service Desks in the Comm Center.

One bank of florescent lights has been turned off (closest to the camera) so the dispatchers in one half of the room can work in "stealth" mode using just their console lamps. When this photo was taken, we still had a few folks who preferred the overhead light, so they were working at the far end of the room. The window in this picture looks into (and out of) the Communications Supervisors' office.