Patrol shifts are assigned permanent hours—day shift, evening shift, or midnight shift. Gaithersburg Police Officers are dispatched through the Montgomery County Police Communications Center in the same manner as Montgomery County Police Officers. When available, Gaithersburg Officers are dispatched as the primary responders to calls within the City. If a City officer is unavailable, a Montgomery County officer is dispatched. In many cases, both a City and County officer may respond to the same call for service.