C-COM is the central communications center for a majority of Clackamas County, serving a population of approximately 290,000 of the county's 370,000 citizens. Approximately 90,000 citizens are served by the communications center in Lake Oswego, which is a division of the Lake Oswego Police Department.
C-COM is a department within the Clackamas County government, but we serve law and fire agencies from several areas and municipalities. The department is not funded by the County general fund or a special tax district.
The law and fire agencies served by C-COM pay annual fees for call taking and dispatching services. C-COM also receives funding (about 15% of C-COM's total budget) from the State of Oregon, which is part of the statewide 9-1-1 tax for telephone services.
The dispatchers at C-COM are highly trained professionals who go through a rigorous training regiment before they are fully certified to work on their own. They use sophisticated computer equipment and are trained emergency medical dispatchers.
C-COM dispatchers are certified in three areas: call taking, police dispatch and fire dispatch. It generally takes six months to a year for a dispatcher to become certified in all three areas of dispatch. The dispatchers must also master several technologically advanced computer systems and memorize hundreds of codes in addition to state and national certifications.