Travels in Grants

A lovely summer morning at the Farmer's Market was interrupted by a man approaching the prison recruitment booth. He was slender, simply dressed, with a sling shot tucked under the top of his shirt. He seemed battered by life's events and decisions but was still standing. 'Please call the police. I know I'm drunk but some men threatened to cut me. I'm afraid of walking home alone.' The recruiter tried calling the police several times but no answer. A woman said he'd have to call dispatch. Dispatch? I never heard of it and didn't know their number. I looked in the phone book and internet. It was like going through a rabbit hole with a long series of different phone numbers [e.g. 287, 285, 768, 833, 827, 863, 877, 876, etc.]. I knew that calling 911 is easier but it may tie up a line needed for a true emergency. So, I asked to be educated by an expert.

Mindy Cunningham is the Director of Cibola Regional Communications Center, now in the Safety Complex by the Senior Center and Continental Divide. The department handles all 911 and nonemergency calls in the county, and dispatches emergency services to the County Sheriff, Grants police and all Fire and EMS to the city and county. The 14 staff members have four administrators and 10 emergency specialists. There are presently 1-2 openings for those of you who love excitement and have nimble fingers. The director is even busier now, dealing with our usual calls of anguish as well as moving into the new offices and learning new computer updates. But she's written a message for us about her department.

To the best of my understanding, the dispatch number for the County Sheriff and Grants police is 505-287-4404. Milan police dispatch is 504287-4491. The State police is 505-287-4141.

Today's lesson. I must be humble because I am not a system analyst. I am just a person with a phone and a limited memory bank who'd like to call 811 for emergencies and 411 (or some three-digit number] for non-emergencies.

Joan Klonowski

Below, find contact information for the nonemergency numbers that go directly to CRCC, and a press release from CRCC.

505-287-4404 505-287-2983 505-287-9476 505-287-9477 505-287-4491

CRCC answers every 911 call that is made within Cibola County. CRCC is the primary Public Safety Answering Point in the County. This means that even if the call falls within the boundaries of Laguna or Acoma tribal areas, CRCC takes all the information and then the call is relayed to the respected agency via non-emergency lines. CRCC operators are not only state certified through the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy, but they also are required to be certified in EMD (Emergency Medical Dispatch). This certification allows for every trained operator to give medical direction to callers. They are required to uphold a CPR certification along with 44 total biennium training hours to uphold these certifications. The Cibola Regional Communications Center has answered 11,654 911 calls and 25,201 administrative calls on non-emergency lines listed above from January 1S to today.

Considering the thousands of calls we receive on a monthly basis; it is important that our residents understand when to call 911 and when to utilize the provided nonemergency numbers to ensure that the emergencies are handled in the quickest manner possible. 911 is used for life and death emergencies such as medical emergencies, car accidents with injuries, any call that poses an imminent threat to life or property. For instance, 911 should be used to report burglaries in progress, while the nonemergency line should be utilized to report a burglary that has already occurred.

As you can imagine the 25,201 calls can really tie up an operator that may need to answer a 911 call to walk somebody through how to give CPR or deliver a child or stop excessive bleeding.

We ask that the public utilize the above numbers, and not 911, for nonemergency calls.

Cibola Regional Communications Center is committed to continuing to meet the needs of our community.