Duty Officers/Dispatch

FWC Law Enforcement Duty Officers are often seen as the lifeline of FWC Law Enforcement officers, as their instructions and information give the FWC Law Enforcement officers direction regarding how to proceed with the incident or emergency.

Sixty-one Duty Officers and nine Duty Officer Supervisors staff four regional communications centers located in Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Sanford and Lake Worth.

FWC Law Enforcement Duty Officers must monitor, receive, and relay FWC Law Enforcement departmental calls (Wildlife/Marine Life), emergency calls (Search and Rescue or Hunting/Boating Accidents), and dispatch FWC Law Enforcement Units in the most efficient and productive manner. They must be able to remain calm and composed at all times, and they must be able to collect and relay as much information as possible to the responding FWC Law Enforcement Units as to protect the safety and lives of both the general public and the FWC Law Enforcement force.

Information that is not clearly relayed to the officers in a timely fashion could result in injury or death to the FWC Law Enforcement officers, the involved parties, or innocent bystanders; therefore, the ability to gather and relay as much information as possible as to allow the FWC Law Enforcement Units to handle the situation accordingly is, without a doubt, one of the most crucial aspects of the FWC Law Enforcement Duty Officer job. 

“Dispatch duty officers and supervisors are the lifeline our officers need out in the field and on the water,” said Col. Curtis Brown. When an FWC officer is out in the field, they are often alone, mucking through a backwoods swamp tracking a poacher, working early morning oyster detail 50 miles offshore, setting up surveillance on a turkey blind over bait or a million other situations.  During these times, the dispatch officer on the other end of that radio signal receiving and delivering information between our officers and the public is essential.