Emergency 9-1-1 Program

Cheltenham Township Police Department is one of only three (3) municipalities in Montgomery County that answer their own 9-1-1 calls, the other two are Abington Township and Lower Merion Township.  All other 9-1-1 calls are received in Eagleville, PA at the Montgomery County Emergency Operations Center.  Cheltenham Police have six (6) 9-1-1 Operator’s working rotating / overlapping shifts covering the township 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Each 9-1-1 Operator/Police Dispatcher has gone through extensive training in many different areas of police dispatch including, but not limited to Domestic Violence calls, TDD (Hearing impaired) callers, Language Barrier callers, etc.

When someone dials 9-1-1 from a landline inside Cheltenham Township they will automatically be routed to the 9-1-1 computerized system inside the Cheltenham Township Police Station.  When a call is received inside the 9-1-1 Communications Center the computer screen indicates the telephone number, name, address and municipality of the caller even before the phone starts to ring.  This is called pre-ALI (ALI = Automatic Location Identifier).  If an individual is able to dial 9-1-1, but is in the middle of an altercation or other situation and the phone disconnects before it ever rang, that call is still routed through the 9-1-1 system and would appear as an abandoned call.  All abandoned calls are called back by the 9-1-1 Operators, if nobody answers the callback, the 9-1-1 Operator/Police Dispatcher would then dispatch two police officers to that residence/business to check and make sure everything is ok.  When a 9-1-1 call is placed and the individual does remain on the line, the 9-1-1 Operator would ascertain the problem and then direct the caller as needed.  For example, if an ambulance is requested that caller is then transferred, on the computerized phone system, to the Montgomery County Operations Center to the Fire/EMS Board.  Cheltenham Police Department dispatches primarily police personnel, Montgomery County personnel dispatch ambulances and fire apparatus, however, the initial call comes through the Cheltenham Police Department and the Dispatchers have access to the computer system to enter all police, fire and ambulance calls as needed.  Cheltenham Police 9-1-1 Operator/Police Dispatchers also have the ability to dispatch ambulances and fire apparatus in emergency situations.

 If someone was to call 9-1-1 from a cell phone that call would either be routed to the Montgomery County Emergency Operations Center or to the Philadelphia Police 9-1-1 Center, it would depend on which tower the cell phone was “bouncing off “ of.  The ALI screen would indicate the location of that cell phone tower.  If a caller uses a cell phone and the call was answered by Philadelphia Police, they would transfer that caller to the Montgomery County Operations Center and the call would be entered into the Countywide CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch).  All calls entered into this computer are automatically routed to the proper municipality by address, and the appropriate response is dispatched as well; police, fire and/or ambulance, via this CAD computer.  The CAD has every address in Montgomery County as well as a five (5) mile border all the way around the County, including Philadelphia County.  This is helpful when a caller is involved in an incident on the county border, or an actor is fleeing from a scene into another jurisdiction.

Having 9-1-1 calls answered locally is a great benefit, those 9-1-1 Operator/Police Dispatchers are very familiar with the area and it’s landmarks.  Scheduled tours of the Cheltenham Police Department Communications Center are available by contacting the Community Policing Unit at extension 482.