The people who answer Atlanta’s calls for help are getting a new facility built specifically for the work they do.
Mayor Andre Dickens joined City leaders and public safety officials Wednesday, September 9, to break ground on a new E911 Emergency Operations Center at the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center campus.
The new two-story, more than 40,000-square-foot facility will give Atlanta’s E911 professionals a modern, purpose-built space to receive emergency calls and dispatch police, fire and other first responders across the city.
“Public safety doesn’t begin when a police officer arrives on the scene. It doesn’t begin when a fire truck pulls up. It often begins with the person who picks up the phone,” Mayor Dickens said.
Built for Atlanta’s E911 Team
The new center will include 82 dispatch console positions, including 12 dedicated training consoles, and is designed to support the operational needs of the Atlanta Police Department’s E911 Communications Division.
For Atlanta’s E911 professionals, that means a facility designed around the critical work they perform 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The project also incorporates rooftop solar panels, EV-ready parking spaces and energy-efficient building systems and is designed to meet LEED requirements.
Building on Atlanta’s Public Safety Investments
The groundbreaking is the latest investment in Atlanta’s public safety infrastructure.
Through Moving Atlanta Forward, the Dickens administration directed $15 million toward modernizing Atlanta’s 911 Communications Center, alongside investments in staffing, recruitment, retention, training and technology.
Those investments have been accompanied by significant improvements in call-answering times. The average time to answer a 911 call dropped from more than 24 seconds in 2023 to just over 12 seconds in 2024 and reached 9.7 seconds by April 2025. The abandoned-call rate also declined.
“A growing, global city needs an emergency communications operation capable of meeting the demands of that city every single day, and that’s what we’re building,” Mayor Dickens said.
A Team Effort
The Department of Enterprise Assets Management is leading the project with LS3P, Fitzgerald Collaborative Group and other design consultants.
Mayor Dickens recognized E911 Executive Director Desiree Arnold and Atlanta’s E911 professionals, DEAM Commissioner Chris Davis, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum, Atlanta Fire Rescue Chief Roderick Smith, members of the Atlanta City Council and the many teams involved in bringing the new facility to life.
The new center will add to the public safety infrastructure taking shape on the Public Safety Training Center campus, which opened in 2025.
“Better training. Better technology. Better facilities. Better support for the people we depend on to keep this city safe,” Mayor Dickens said. “Most importantly, it’ll help save lives.”
