National Public Safety Dispatchers Week

**Willowdared** · 04-10-07, 09:48 PM

This week is National Dispatcher's week....hug a dispatcher...or maybe wave.

The week of April 8 through April 14 has been dedicated as National Public Safety Dispatchers Week. The San Diego Sheriff’s Department recognizes the commitment and hard work put forth each day by its Emergency Services Dispatchers.

In 2006, the San Diego Sheriff’s Department Communication Center received over 650 Thousand calls for service. Sheriff’s Emergency Services Dispatchers are the first line of communication between the citizens of San Diego County and the Sheriff’s Department. These professionals perform a critical service which is often overlooked. To some, they are a voice on the other end of a phone. To many, they are the link between life and death.

**Autumn2009** · 04-10-07, 09:50 PM

I started dispatch training for my Universitie's Police Dept. this week. Going to be doing it over the summer months until school starts back up. Woohoo!

Happy Dispatcherness!

**Willowdared** · 04-10-07, 09:56 PM

City grapples with high 911 call volume
Apr 9, 2007 3:00 AM (1 day ago)
by Bonnie Eslinger, The Examiner

The City is having a hard time handling all of the calls that its communications center receives. Of the 187 dispatcher positions there is funding for, only 111 are filled full time. As a result of the vacancies, The City spends approximately $1.5 million on overtime.

“We’re having a huge problem,” Mayor Gavin Newsom said last week at a press conference to introduce San Francisco’s new 311 phone number, a city hotline established to handle nonemergency calls. “We’ve been aggressively trying to recruit call takers for 911.”

San Francisco is budgeted for 187 dispatchers and call takers for 911 calls, according to David Ebarle with the Department of Emergency Management. Although 155 positions are filled, actual staffing levels are at 111, due to long-term disabilities.

With violent crime on the rise in San Francisco, according to statistics released last week by the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, and the number of police officers in The City below a voter-supported minimum, a shortage of 911 employees is one additional pressure to a public-safety system that is already overloaded.

As a result of the staffing shortage, approximately $1.5 million is expended on overtime costs to cover the vacancies, Ebarle said. Measures are being developed to curtail the cost, he added, but due to the nature of the 24-hour job, there will always be some overtime necessary, he said.

“We do not have the luxury of reducing service levels or running short,” Ebarle said.

Public safety call takers have a turnover rate of 17 percent nationally, Bob Smith with the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials said. In many municipalities, the pay is low and the hours are long and often involve working nights, weekends and holidays.

“Beyond that, there’s the stress that stems from the job itself,” Smith said. “For eight, 10, 12 hours at a time, they’re making decisions that are literally life-and-death decisions. A single slip-up can cost someone their life.”

The high volume of 911 calls — which has increased in part due to the proliferation of cell phones — also adds to the stress of the job, Smith said.

“Ten years ago, if you have a wreck on the interstate you may get only one phone call,” he said. “Now, everyone driving by calls to report the accident.”

San Francisco pays approximately $54,314 to $66,014 for 911 call takers, according to a newspaper advertisement for the job. Applicants are required to have a high school diploma or to have passed the general equivalency test, and have had one year of paid work in a public contact position in addition to an ability to type

40 words per minute.

The skills needed to become a 911 call taker narrows the pool of candidates, said Ebarle, who said the fact that other municipalities in the region are also recruiting 911 call takers adds to the challenge of hiring staff for San Francisco.

City officials are also hoping that the introduction of the 311 nonemergency number will relieve San Francisco’s overburdened 911 system. More than half of San Francisco’s 911 calls are not emergencies, Newsom said last week. A 1998 National Institute of Justice study found that a 311 system could reduce calls to 911, when accompanied by an effective public awareness campaign.

**dapples** · 04-10-07, 11:35 PM

Hats off to the only folks that can tell a cop where to go and how fast to go there (quote admittedly stolen from Mav )

**Growler** · 04-10-07, 11:53 PM

True Dapples, true.
Besides, always be nice to dispatchers. They actually control if you e.o.t on time,when you get to eat and when you get to take your personal.

And get away with it!!

**Jackalope** · 04-11-07, 01:21 AM

I've never seen a dispatch console with a window. How would a dispatcher know if I was waving at her?

**lynnz05** · 04-11-07, 01:26 AM

To the dispatchers

Hope your week treats you well!

**cwtlady** · 04-11-07, 07:43 AM

Thank you to all the dispatchers. We appreciate the job you do. Have a good week.

**BigDawg** · 04-11-07, 08:13 AM

Thanks for the jobs you do Dispatchers.

Anybody else find it interesting that National Dispatchers week and National Mental Health week are the same week?? Very very interesting.

**BEB** · 04-11-07, 08:16 AM

Originally Posted by BigDawg3533

Anybody else find it interesting that National Dispatchers week and National Mental Health week are the same week?? Very very interesting.

Dispatchers promote sanity too? No wonder they're so busy.

**Willowdared** · 04-11-07, 10:35 AM

Originally Posted by Jackalope

I've never seen a dispatch console with a window. How would a dispatcher know if I was waving at her?

It's called a CAD message.

**Willowdared** · 04-14-07, 12:42 AM

http://www.cbs8.com/features/special....php?id=86857#

If you click on the video link, you may see my hair in the background of one of the shots.

**Doc_Holliday** · 04-14-07, 12:55 AM

volunteering to hug dispatchers....

**bird1** · 04-14-07, 12:56 AM

Here's a pic of our 911 center. my hats off to these fine folks we can't do our job without them.

**Piggybank Cop** · 04-14-07, 10:37 AM

“This week is National Dispatcher's week....hug a dispatcher...or maybe wave.”

I would hug one but most of our controllers are male and all are sergeants.

And it’s against my religion to hug a sergeant; especially the male ones – I’d get arrested for sexual something or other.

**Willowdared** · 04-14-07, 11:40 AM

Here's another video, with an interview of one of our dispatchers.

http://www.10news.com/video/index.html

The pursuit they are talking about was another agency's, but it covered most of the county. Units from at least 4 of our contract cities assisted at various points in the pursuit.

The man in question had a $2 million bond for DV, TRO violations, and attempting to kidnap his own children.

Oh yeah, we also had a citizen assist from a civilian dog - usually he doesn't bite, but this time he did! Go figure!