Emergency Communications & Operations Division
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CAPTAIN
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Captain Jennifer Miles is Commander of the Emergency Communications and Operations Division. She is responsible for overseeing radio and 911 emergency communications within the Sheriff's Operations Center, manages the Warrants Unit (where criminal warrants are researched and entered into the Law Enforcement Information System) and is the Sheriff's Communications Representative with Oakland County's Homeland Security and Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
Captain Miles began her law enforcement career in 1999 as a Deputy with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, where she worked and trained in various units. She was promoted to Sergeant in 2011, Lieutenant in 2019 and Captain in 2022.
Captain Miles developed the Sheriff's Office Women's Self-Defense Awareness Program, for which she currently serves as coordinator and teacher. She is trained in various self-defense methods, as well as firearms, active shooter response, suicide prevention, PTSD awareness and crisis intervention.
Captain Miles has received many citations and awards throughout her career, including the Olivia Cleveland Gratitude Award and the 2014 Domestic Violence Prevention Award. She is also a member of many telecommunicator and law enforcement organizations.
Captain Miles has a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice from Wayne State University and a Master's degree in Organizational Leadership from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. She is also a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Staff and Command, the International Association of Chiefs of Police Women's Leadership Institute and is a 2020 fellow of the Michigan Political Leadership Program through Michigan State University.
Operations Center
The Oakland County Sheriff's Emergency Communications and Operations Center (ECOC) supports all divisions of the Sheriff's Office and operates one of the largest law enforcement/medical/fire dispatch 911 centers in Michigan. The Sheriff’s Operations Center staff is comprised of a Chief of Communications, two QA Supervisors (Medical/Fire and Law Enforcement), five Sergeants, six Dispatch Shift Leaders, seventy Dispatch Specialists, two Warrant Clerks and one Technical Assistant.
The Sheriff's Emergency Communications and Operations Center provides all emergency and non-emergency call-taking and dispatching for the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, nine local law enforcement agencies, and nineteen local fire/EMS agencies. Call-taking and dispatch services are also provided for the Oakland County Animal Control and the Oakland Community College Police. Every Dispatch Specialist is fully trained and certified in Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD), Emergency Fire Dispatch (EFD), and Emergency Police Dispatch (EPD) and credentialed through the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (IAED-Priority Dispatch).
The Sheriff's Emergency Communications and Operations Center serves as the "default call center" for the entire County. This means that if the phone company is unsure about which dispatch center to send a call, it is automatically routed to the ECOC. Upon receiving these calls, a Dispatch Specialist determines the location of the emergency and transfers the call to the appropriate law enforcement or fire agency. This process has proven to be a quick, efficient, and seamless solution for handling these 911 emergencies.
The Sheriff's Emergency Communications and Operations Center is equipped to provide assistance to other area 911 centers if a center is unable to operate due to a situation such as phone outages, etc. During those emergencies, the Sheriff’s ECOC is designed to accept re-routed 911 calls from those affected areas.
The Sheriff's Emergency Communications and Operations Center can communicate with any law enforcement officer, firefighter, EMT in Oakland County, as well as any other Oakland County dispatch center. These first responders also have the ability to communicate with each other and coordinate their responses using one of the nation’s most advanced inter-operable radio networks. The ECOC has two Michigan Public Safety Communications Systems (MPSCS), state radio consoles to provide regional interoperable communications for the metro-Detroit area and southeast Michigan. In 2023 Oakland County agencies will be transitioning onto the MPSCS system. The Next Generation ready Motorola CallWorks System was integrated into the Sheriff’s 9-1-1 center and has improved call routing and handling and is now providing statistical data identifying trends in peak call volumes to assist in the scheduling of personnel.
In 2015 Sheriff Michael Bouchard brought Text-to-911 services to Oakland County. Sheriff Bouchard saw the need for callers within Oakland County to have access to 911 services, whether by voice or text. This gives the citizens the option to “Call when they can, Text when they can’t”. Dispatch Specialists are able to receive text messages that are sent to 911 and communicate back and forth with the sender. There is now an option to send and receive text messages in multiple languages, which are automatically detected and translated using AI translation.
In 2022, the Sheriff's Emergency Communications and Operations Center managed over 516,000 telephone calls; 911 cellular calls now constitute over 84% of the total calls made to 911. The entire ECOC remains committed to providing the best service possible.
Fax: 248-452-2102