ECC Tour: Metropolitan Nashville Department of Emergency Communications Tour

Touring an emergency communications center (ECC) is a great way to view first-hand how other communication centers operate on a day-to-day basis. Sign-up is on a first-come first-serve basis and will be available on the day of the tour at the Information Booth in the Music City Center. Space for each tour is limited to the first 50 registrants.

All tours depart from/return to the Music City Center.

Information to know before signing up:

You may only sign up yourself and not others for the tour.
A photo id is required to sign up.

Description:
The Metropolitan Nashville Department of Emergency Communications (DEC) is a full-service communications center that receives and processes all law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical calls for Metropolitan Nashville/Davidson County. Nashville hosts multiple high-profile events which bring many visitors to our city. In 2022, Operations personnel assisted in over one million emergency and non-emergency incidents.

Originally 9-1-1 Communications was part of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) and any calls for Fire or EMS were transferred to Fire Communications (housed in the same building on the 2nd floor). In 2002, the focus was on removing the delay in response and the consolidation process resulted in the Emergency Communications Center reporting to a management board made up of the Police Chief, the Fire Chief, and the Director of the Office of Emergency Management (OEM). In 2016, an ordinance was approved to create a stand-alone department (DEC) and the director reports directly to the Mayor. In 2022, a bill was passed aligning DEC employees with the same pension benefits of our public safety counterparts. The DEC maintains a close working relationship with the Nashville Mayor, our ECD Board, OEM (who shares our building), MNPD, NFD, as well as several satellite agencies.