Take and send calls in Dispatch

Dispatch is where a roleplay community takes calls for service and sends its units. It's a separate site, Dispatch (dispatch.cmty.app), laid out like a traditional computer-aided dispatch board. Turn Dispatch on for your community in Billing first. It needs Teams.

Sign in

Choose Sign in on the Dispatch site. It sends you to cmty.app, where you choose Continue, and back. You stay signed in for twelve hours. Signing out of Dispatch doesn't sign you out of cmty.app.

The board

The board has three panes.

• Calls lists every pending and active call, most urgent first. New call takes a call for someone: the nature of the call, where it is, and the caller.
• The call pane shows the selected call and its log. Change the call there, add a note, send a unit or close it. Everything you change saves at once, and the log keeps a line for each change.
• Units lists every unit in service by department. Drag a unit onto a call to send it, or use Assign a unit in the call pane.

The board updates as things happen. The Live light in the header shows it's listening; if it isn't, the board asks again every few seconds.

Priorities and statuses

A call is Emergency, High, Normal or Low. It's Pending until a unit is assigned, Active while one is, and Closed with a reason: Resolved, Cancelled, False alarm or Duplicate. Closed calls lists every closed call, and Reopen puts one back on the board.

A unit is Available, Busy, En route or On scene. It's en route or on scene only while it's on a call, and it can be on one call at a time.

Sign on as a unit

Once you're on duty in a department, open My unit, choose the department and give your callsign, like Adam-12, or join a unit that's already in service. You see the call your unit is on and can set your own status there. Going off duty, or leaving the roster, takes you out of your unit.

Report a call

If your community allows it, any member can use Report a call to tell dispatchers what's happening. Members can report three calls an hour, and see only their own calls' status. Turn this on or off in Settings, which needs Manage dispatch (dispatch.manage).

Members can also report from inside SL: a Dispatch 911 script in an object takes a call when someone touches it, and the RP HUD's Dispatch panel has Call for help, which says where the wearer stands. Both follow the same limit and the same setting.

From the RP HUD

The RP HUD has a Dispatch panel for units. It shows your unit's status and your call (its nature, priority and place), and its buttons set your status (Busy, Available, En route, On scene) or Leave unit, so you can work a call without leaving SL.