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(NewsDakota.com) – The Stutsman County Communications Center handled more than 26,000 calls for service in 2011, an increase of almost 3,500 calls from 2010.

Emergency manager Jerry Bergquist supplied the Stutsman County Commission with a breakdown of calls by different agencies at its Tuesday meeting. The Communications Center handles calls for numerous agencies in Stutsman County. Bergquist says the Jamestown Police Department received the most calls for service with 15,835 calls in the last year. That’s an increase of almost 500 calls from 2010.

The majority of the increase in calls came from the Stutsman County Sheriff’s Department due to a change in the way it routed calls. The department had 6,738 calls for service in 2011.

Sheriff Chad Kaiser says the new way of handling calls is a more accurate reflection of what the department does, and should also increase grant funding for the department.

The Jamestown Ambulance had 1,566 calls for service and Jamestown Fire Department had 225 calls, which was down from 306 calls in 2010.

911 calls were also up in 2011, with 5,457 calls received in 2011. That number was 4,882 in 2010.