Emergency and Customer Communications

The Department of Emergency and Customer Communications (DECC) ensures the effective delivery of routine and emergency calls for service to the City of Alexandria public safety departments.
Page updated on December 29, 2022 at 11:47 AM
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The Department of Emergency & Customer Communications (DECC) is the Public Safety Answering Point for all emergency services within the City of Alexandria.  All 9-1-1 calls are routed through DECC along with non-emergency telephone calls of varying concerns and requests. DECC provides 24-hour, two-way radio communications and other essential services to police, sheriff, fire and other local public safety departments.

Our Mission 

We provide a safe and secure environment by facilitating Police, Fire and Medical dispatch, to preserve and protect the lives and property of all persons living in and visiting the City of Alexandria.

Our Vision

To provide our community with exemplary service in Public Safety 911

Director Renee Gordon, Appointed as FirstNet Authority Board Member

Commissioner Renee Gordon Board Member to FirstNet

Renee Gordon, Director of Department Emergency and Customer Communications in the City of Alexandria, appointed as FirstNet Authority Board Member 

On Friday, November 4, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced the appointment of Renee Gordon, Director of the City of Alexandria’s Department of Emergency and Customer Communications (DECC), to serve on the Board of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority). 

Gordon will serve as one of 12 non-permanent members selected by the Department of Commerce. Three permanent seats are occupied by the Attorney General of the United States, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. The Board oversees activities to ensure that the FirstNet Authority and AT&T—its commercial partner—develop, build, and operate a nationwide public safety broadband network that will best equip first responders to save lives and protect U.S. communities. 

Gordon has provided excellent executive leadership as Director of DECC since 2015. DECC serves as a full-service communications center, handling all the City’s 911, 311 and non-emergency calls for police, sheriff, fire, and other local public safety departments. During her tenure, she established the nation’s first remote 911 call-taking program using FirstNet technology.  

Gordon began her career as a police officer in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Later, she moved on to 911 and emergency communications for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s Public Safety Communications Center and the City of Baltimore 911 and Emergency Communications.  

The First Responder Network Authority is an independent entity within the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). In March 2017, the Department of Commerce and FirstNet announced a partnership with AT&T to build and operate the first responder network. It is delivering the technologies and infrastructure that public safety relies on for day-to-day operations, disaster response and recovery, and securing large-scale events. 

DECC Services

  • 9-1-1 Dispatch: receive and dispatches 9-1-1 emergency calls
  • Non-Emergency: Police, Fire, EMS non-emergency calls (703.746.4444)
  • Alex311: provides a single point of contact for City government services and information via 311 or 703.746.4311
  • City Radio Manager: operates and maintains the Project 25 (P25) Standard radio system utilized by DECC and other City departments
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Smart911

The free Smart911 service allows individuals and businesses to create online safety profiles with home, workplace and mobile phone numbers, along with additional information that would be valuable to dispatchers and first responders during an emergency.

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Text to 911

Text-to-911 is a great option for people who have difficulty speaking, are deaf, hard of hearing, or in a situation where speaking to a 911 professional via phone is not possible or dangerous. Call if You Can, Text if You Can't!

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CALEA Accreditation

The City's 9-1-1 center gained public safety communications accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) in 2018. Alexandria’s 9-1-1 center is the first in the region, and one of seven centers in Virginia to hold such accreditation.

Our Core Values

  • Professionalism: We exhibit conscientious, courteous, and businesslike behavior in the workplace and conform to the highest ethical and technical standards of our profession.
  • Integrity: We are strongly committed to the highest performance standards, moral and ethical conduct, and truthfulness in all relationships.
  • Service: We provide quality service in a courteous, efficient, and accessible manner.
  • Excellence: We consistently strive to demonstrate our professional and technical excellence.
  • Respect: We treat all persons, including our co-workers and residents during their time of need, in a fair, in an impartial, unbiased, dignified and courteous manner, with respect for individual differences and ethnic and cultural diversity.
  • Dignity: We treat all persons with dignity during their time of need.
  • Pride: We take great pride in our skills, our fellow co-workers, our organization and in our commitment to public service.
  • Partnership: We value our relationships with others and make quality, transparent decisions in cooperation with our co-workers and customers.
  • Accountability: We hold ourselves accountable for our actions and we are accountable to the community for all that we do.

Technical and Operational Assessment and Pandemic Operations

Alexandria Department of Emergency and Customer Communications (DECC) Technical and Operational Assessment Pandemic Operations Submitted to: Alexandria, Virginia By APCO International

Read the Assessment