Communications

The East Brunswick Police Department operates a 24 hour a day communications center. Using twelve full time police dispatchers, the police department dispatchers are always there for you. 

Our dispatchers are trained for any Police, Fire or Medical emergency. If your call involves a serious medical emergency, the Police Dispatchers will send Police and EMS units to your location then, if necessary, transfer your call to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Medical Dispatch to provide the caller with verbal medical instructions.

Questions from Dispatch

Have you ever had to call 911 to report an emergency and wonder why they are asking you all those questions? When you are involved in an emergency situation you want to know that the police, fire and or/ambulance are coming. 

Once an address is obtained you can be sure that emergency vehicles are heading to that location even though you are still on the phone with the dispatcher. We do not wait until the call has terminated before sending help.

Helpful Information

Find out what information I should be ready to report when I call for help.

• Where? - Where is this occurring?
• What? - What is happening?
• When? - Is this happening now?
• Who? - Who is the victim, suspect, etc.?
• Why? - Do you know why this is happening?
• Weapons? - Are there any weapons involved?

Do's & Dont's of 911

• Do not program 911 into your auto-dial telephone. You won't forget the number, and programming the number invites accidental dialing of the number. Also, please do not dial 911 to "test" your phone or the system. This needlessly burdens the dispatchers and system with non-emergency calls.
• Dial 911 only for an emergency. An emergency is any serious medical problem (chest pain, seizure, bleeding), any type of fire (business, car, building), or any life-threatening situation (fights, person with weapons, etc.). Most jurisdictions also urge citizens to use 911 to report crimes in progress, whether or not a life is threatened.
• Do not dial 911 for a non-emergency. Instead, dial 732-390-6900 which is the non-emergency telephone number. A non-emergency incident is any of the following:
  • Break-in to a vehicle when suspect is gone
  • Cars blocking the street or alleys
  • Intoxicated persons who are not disorderly
  • Panhandlers
  • Property damage
  • Theft of property (when suspect is gone)
  • Vandalism (when suspect is gone)
• If you dialed 911 in error, do not hang up the telephone. Instead, stay on the line and explain to the dispatcher that you dialed by mistake and that you do not have an emergency. If you hang up, a dispatcher will call back to confirm that there is no emergency and send a police vehicle to make sure there is no emergency.
• If you are a cellular caller, your telephone number and location will not be displayed for the dispatcher's reference. You must be able to describe your location so emergency units can respond. Be aware of your current city or town, address, highway and direction, nearby cross-streets or interchanges, or other geographic points of reference.
• Cellular 911 calls are frequently routed to a central Public Service Answering Point that could be many miles from your location. Be prepared to give the dispatcher your complete location--city or town, address or location, inside or outside, what floor or room, etc.
• Don't hang up until the call-taker tells you to. Follow any instructions the dispatcher gives you, such as meeting the officers at the door, or flagging down the firefighters at the curb.