Fairfax Police Department Begins Dispatching for Ross Police

The  will now answer all emergency calls made from Ross. 

The Fairfax Police Department officially took over the dispatching services for the Ross Police Department on Tuesday. 

The Marin Community College District Police to provide dispatching services, which will begin after the district’s current contract with the San Anselmo Police Department expires at the end of June. 

Ross police officers will share the Fairfax Police radio channel and be dispatched by Fairfax dispatchers. The Fairfax Police Department, in downtown Fairfax, houses a 24-hour emergency 911 dispatch center and front counter that is open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

“We are very proud that we are able to provide full service dispatching of our own officers and welcome the addition of the Ross Police Department,” said Fairfax Police Chief Chris Morin in a statement.

Fairfax is one of only five dispatch centers in Marin, and the only one that is open to the public 24 hours a day for walk-in assistance, according to police officials. 

The Ross Police Department has been dispatched by several agencies over the past 30 years. In the 1970s Ross police were dispatched by the Marin Sheriff’s Department. In the late 1980s to early 1990s Fairfax provided the service. In the mid 1990s San Anselmo took over and then it went back to the Sheriff’s Department in the early 2000s.

Ross Police Chief Erik Masterson chose Fairfax as his new dispatch center as he believed that Fairfax best suited the needs of his department and community, according to Fairfax police officials.

“The change will be seamless to Ross residents, merchants and visitors,” Morin said.

Ross officers will be on duty around the clock responding to calls received in the Fairfax Police station and dispatched to them in the field in Ross.