Director Amanda Glasoe says the new Red River Regional Dispatch Center — handling emergency calls for Clay and Cass counties — is one of the most technologically advanced dispatch centers in the nation. (Photos/Nancy Hanson.)
The dispatch room in the RRRDC is staffed 24/7 by 38 public safety communicators who work 10- to 12-hour shifts.
The gold line represents public safety communicators, who the RRRDC director points out are the “first first responders.”
Nancy Edmonds Hanson
When you call 9-1-1 for help – as 800 to 1,000 people do every day – the phone will ring in an unassuming new building in the middle of the industrial park northwest of Fargo. You’ll talk with one of the professionals who staff the phones around the clock, seven days a week. Then, and only then, can your emergency be channeled among hundreds of first responders stationed all throughout Clay and Cass counties.
“We call our PSTs – our public safety telecommunicators – our first, first responders,” says Amanda Glasoe. “Everything goes through them. They take each call, then push the situation to the appropriate first responder out in the field.”
The Red River Regional Dispatch Center handles emergency calls to two sheriff’s departments, seven police departments, three city fire departments, 28 rural fire departments and 15 rural emergency medical service providers. It’s believed to be the only agency of its kind in the country, crossing two state lines, two counties and all the city boundaries of a nearly 3,000-square-mile territory. Its staff of 38 field 800 to 1,000 calls from people in trouble every 24 hours.
Now this regional nerve center is on the brink of its biggest move since Moorhead, Fargo, Clay and Cass Counties agreed to pool their resources back in 2001. With its original NP Avenue location outgrown and its technology needing updates, the RRRDC is about to move into its spacious, secure new headquarters over the next couple weeks.
Director Glasoe has been involved in developing the new facility since she assumed the top job in January 2024. “There’s still some technology being installed,” she notes. “The move has to be timed just right. We’ll have staff working in both places while we double- and triple-check the system to make sure everything is solid before we turn off downtown and turn on here. We can’t have any hiccups.”
While the construction took place over the past two years, Glasoe says the new dispatch center has been on the top of the cooperating counties’ agenda for at least 17 years. Increased 9-1-1 traffic spurred the addition of four high-tech workstations to the eight in the old center. “We’ll also have a dedicated metro fire console handling calls for Moorhead, Fargo and West Fargo,” she notes, “since the departments work closely. One dispatcher will oversee all of them.”
The center’s technology is so advanced that the RRRDC will be the first to handle streaming video from callers. The new system, known as i3-compliant, will accommodate faster and more accurate transfer of 9-1-1 data. “It opens up the future, with video streaming by witnesses to Dispatch,” the director notes. When operational, the tech system will be the first to be implemented in North Dakota and Minnesota.
The facility was built with cooperative funding from both sides of the river. Its current budget of $14,215,000, about $1.5 million less than the original estimate, Glasoe says. Minnesota jurisdictions are covering up to $2.5 million of land and construction costs, with Clay County providing 60% and Moorhead 40%. Cass County covers the balance.
Glasoe points out that building a center to handle everything up to an F4 tornado requires special hardening. “What do you do if you can’t call us?” she asks. “Everything comes through here.”
She points to the bullet-resistant glass in the entry and heavier sheet rock that’s nearly impervious to penetration. The building meets the qualifications for a storm shelter. It has a generator for a guaranteed uninterrupted power supply, septic tanks and backup air conditioning on the dispatch floor.
Glasoe, a 1999 graduate of Fargo North High School, attended NDSU and worked in a bank before joining the center in 2004. Like her predecessor, she started out as a dispatcher and worked her way up.
“You don’t need to invest in four years of college to work in Dispatch,” she says. “You can progress without a degree. You’ve got to stick to it. You’ve got to have grit. If you’re willing to learn and grow, you can excel.”
One testament to RRRDC staffers’ contributions to their community is being relocated from the NP Avenue location to a place of honor in the new facility. It’s the Tree of Life – a likeness with many branches that decorates a central hallway. On its leaves are inscribed the names of staffers who’ve helped deliver babies babies over the phone or helped save lives over the phone lines.
“I’d never once thought of a field like this before a neighbor in law enforcement mentioned it,” Glasoe says. “We’re all looking for a job where we can make an impact. This is it.”
