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Staffing
To fulfill the mission of a 9-1-1/PSCC and provide efficient service to the public and the Law Enforcement, Fire/Rescue and EMS agencies served, requires that an adequate number of qualified personnel be on duty in the Communications Center. When this is not the case the quality of service can diminish and the short and long term effect on Communications Center personnel often leads to staffing issues, personnel being overworked because the Centers are understaffed and attrition rates increase. To ensure adequate staffing -
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Methodologies for establishing adequate and acceptable staffing levels to ensure the services levels expected by the public and required by the Law Enforcement, Fire/Rescue, and EMS agencies served should be adopted and utilized.
- A methodology should allow for the identification of the number of qualified 9-1-1/Public Safety calltakers necessary to answer 9-1-1 calls and other telephone lines for which the agency is responsible in an acceptable manner, within acceptable call answering and call processing times.
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A methodology should allow for the identification of the number of qualified on-duty Law Enforcement, Fire/Rescue, EMS Dispatchers necessary to adequately and safely communicate with, provide command and control assistance and manage an acceptable number of Law Enforcement, Fire/Rescue and EMS units on a given number of radio channels.
Recognition
The 9-1-1/PSCC calltakers/dispatchers valuable contribution to the community and its Law Enforcement, Fire/Rescue and EMS agencies often are unnoticed and unrecognized. This is unfortunate and serves to diminish the importance of the job and lessen the desire of calltakers/dispatchers interest in staying in the job as a career. This lack of recognition combined with other factors adds to the reasons why there is a high attrition rate in these positions. To address this issue -
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9-1-1/Public Safety Supervisors, Managers, and Directors should make every effort and seize every opportunity using every means available to bring positive recognition for both daily routine jobs done well and exceptional performance.
- Public safety communications work must be viewed with substantially more value by the pubic and elected leaders to institute necessary improvements in all areas viewed as causes of problems concerning recruitment and retention in the 9-1-1/PSCC.
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9-1-1/PSCC should regularly participate in community meetings, events, etc., that will expose the community to the valuable role the agency plays in the safety of the community.
Job/Position Classification
Hiring Process (Recruitment, Testing and Selection)
Compensation (Basic and Supplemental)
Working Conditions / Retirement |
