The Richard A. King, Pine Ridge Facility, located at 3911 Woodburn Rd, Annandale Virginia houses the Department of Public Safety Communications Center (DPSC).

The DPSC is a combined police, fire and emergency medical services dispatch facility which uses a state of the art Computer Aided Dispatch system and other communications technology. It is the Public Safety Answering Point for all 9-1-1 calls dialed in Fairfax County, including the towns of Herndon and Vienna, and the City of Fairfax. DPSC is also the answering point for non emergency calls for service for Police, Fire and Rescue. The center answers over 1.2 million calls a year.

The safety of the public is the Center's number one priority. Emergencies occur 24 hours a day, therefore, nights, weekends and holidays are part of the regular scheduled hours for more than 130 employees assigned to staff the Center. The employees assigned to the Center are divided among four squads. Each squad works a 4 day, 12 hour rotational shift schedule, with four days off. Employees are required to attend a 30 minute roll call prior to the beginning of each shift.

The Mission of the Fairfax County Public Safety Communications Center is to provide high quality Call-Taking, Dispatching, and Communications services to the public and to those public safety personnel that depends on its support.

New employees are paired with senior training personnel who will provide a comprehensive and structured 16 week on-the-job call taker training program. They remain with the trainer until they have successfully completed the training program and are fully qualified in all aspects of receiving, classifying and processing emergency calls for service.

New employees are required to successfully complete the Compulsory Minimum Standards Dispatch Course mandated by the Department of Criminal Justice Services within their first year of employment. After qualifying and demonstrating proficiency as a call taker, employees are assigned to training personnel to learn other functional areas of the Center such as police dispatch, fire and EMS dispatch, and teletype.

Public Safety Communications is an exciting and a rewarding career that demands dedication from its personnel. The Fairfax County Public Safety Communications Center is always looking for people interested in pursuing this as their career choice.