DU-COMM History and Organization
DuPage Public Safety Communications (DU-COMM) is an intergovernmental agency as defined in the Illinois statues (5 ILCS 220/1) formed in 1975 by our member departments to provide emergency communications services to police, fire, and emergency medical services.
DU-COMM is an intergovernmental agency formed in 1975 to provide public safety communications services to Police, Fire, and EMS agencies. Today, DU-COMM serves forty-four (44) agencies in DuPage County and is one of the largest consolidated 9-1-1 centers in Illinois. In 2018 DU-COMM processed over 1.2 million phone calls and over 750,000 police and Fire/EMS incidents. Municipalities and fire districts have worked together to provide a high level of service to their citizens in public safety communications.
Agency Structure
Internally DU-COMM has three (3) departments: Operations, Support Services, and Administration. The Operations department is where Telecommunicators answer the incoming 9-1-1 calls. DU-COMM has eighty seven (87) full-time and one (1) part-time Telecommunicators, and three (3) part-time Alarm Operators, supervised by six (6) Communications Supervisors and managed by three (3) Communications Managers. The Operations department is supported by Training Coordinator and is led by the Deputy Director Operations.
The Support Services department includes two divisions: Technical Services and Management Information Systems (MIS). Technical Services has three (3) full-time Technicians supervised by the Technical Services Manager. The Technical Services staff is responsible for the maintenance and installation of agency radio infrastructure and the DU-COMM facility. MIS is staffed with four (4) contract employees and one (1) part-time GIS Coordinator providing support and system administration for the agency and member departments related to communications or interfaces with DU-COMM. The Support Services department is led by the Deputy Director Support Services.
Administration includes the Executive Director, Deputy Director Operations, Deputy Director Support Services, Finance/HR Manager, Executive Secretary, Finance Clerk, and Office Assistant.
Public Safety Communications
DU-COMM Telecommunicators answer incoming 9-1-1 and seven (7) digit phone calls and also dispatch for an individual radio position. The radio positions are grouped together by agencies as detailed below:
Police Positions:
1 East (Lombard and Villa Park)
3 East (Elmhurst and Oakbrook Terrace)
1 West (Bartlett and Carol Stream)
3 West (Glen Ellyn and Wheaton)
7 West (Warrenville, West Chicago, and Winfield)
1 North (Hanover Park and Roselle)
1 South (Darien, Lisle, and Woodridge)
3 South (Burr Ridge, Clarendon Hills, Hinsdale, Oak Brook and Willowbrook)
7 South (Downers Grove)
Fire Positions:
Fire EAST (Clarendon Hills, Elmhurst, Hinsdale, Lombard, Oak Brook, Oakbrook Terrace, Villa Park, and York Center)
Fire NORTH (Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Glen Ellyn, Glenside, Roselle, West Chicago, Wheaton, and Winfield)
Fire SOUTH (Darien-Woodridge, Downers Grove, Lisle-Woodridge, and Warrenville)
Fire WEST (Bartlett and Hanover Park)
DU-COMM and Consolidated Services
DU-COMM has been a model of efficient government and consolidated services for over forty(40) years. During all of that time and even before the 1989 formation of the DuPage Emergency Telephone System Board (ETSB), municipalities and fire districts have worked together to provide a high level of service to their citizens in public safety communications. Nothing demonstrates this more than during the last eight (8) years eighteen (18) agencies joined DU-COMM to benefit from the cost savings and improved service. Interagency cooperation, efficiency, and shared governance have all been successful within DU-COMM model.
DU-COMM and the DuPage Emergency Telephone System Board (ETSB)
DU-COMM is supported by the DuPage Emergency Telephone System Board (ETSB), which funds much of the infrastructure in the center, including CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) and Motorola STARCOM21. DU-COMM is one of two 9-1-1 centers, or PSAP’s (Public Safety Answering points) in the DuPage ETSB system, but as the largest center, DU-COMM accounts for seventy-five percent (75%) of all police and fire agency’s in the ETSB system.
Our Facility
DU-COMM is located in a new facility on the DuPage County Campus. The facility was operational in August of 2018. The new facility has over 34,000 sq feet of space including a weather hardened Communications Center and support space for our employees. The Communications Center has 34 dispatch consoles.
Radio Frequencies
DU-COMM operates on a variety of communications systems. In 2012 we moved our communications onto the statewide STARCOM21 system as part of the DuPage ETSB Interoperable Radio System.
M.A.B.A.S.
DU-COMM is the dispatch center for M.A.B.A.S. Division 12 and Division 16. M.A.B.A.S.(Mutual Aid Box Alarm System) is a Fire/EMS mutual aid system that has existed since the late 1960's. During major incidents DU-COMM acts as the single point of contact for either division and coordinates the responses.
DU-COMM on Social Media : Twitter @ducomm911
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DUCOMM911/