Call for service

rdf:langString Call for service

rdf:langString A call for service (also known in jargon as a job or simply a call) is an incident that public safety organizations or emergency services (such as police, fire departments, and emergency medical services) are assigned to resolve, correct, or assist with. The term "call" originates from the telephone calls made by the public to emergency telephone numbers to report the incident to dispatchers and request an emergency service response. The term may also be used to describe incidents handled by emergency services that are not reported through phone calls or similar communication, such as pedestrians flagging down passing emergency vehicles; however, it is generally only used to describe incidents reported by the public, not those witnessed by emergency services. As it pertains to police work, when the call for service is broadcast over the radio, it is assigned to an officer who patrols the specific sector or beat within which the call for service originates. Once assigned, the officer must respond and issue some type of finality back to the dispatcher indicating the action taken in order to essentially 'finish' that particular call and prepare the patrol shift for the next call. Multiple calls for service may be assigned at once to several patrol beats and, depending on the severity or urgency of the call, multiple calls may be assigned to one individual officer or pair of officers.