This is the journey-level classification in the series. Incumbents are expected to possess a complete understanding of the functions, responsibilities and procedures of the dispatch division and perform the full range of duties with a minimum of supervision. Incumbents may assist in training less experienced dispatchers…
The husband and wife were both taken by COVID-19 in a matter of weeks, leaving their three grown children, along with their grandchildren, unable to say a proper goodbye.
Guadalupe, also referred to as Lupe, was a longtime 911 dispatcher at Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management, where he was memorialized earlier this week; and Maria had an income tax business in Little Village…
For a dispatcher in Fairbanks, any day can be a busy day, with calls ranging from reporting a traffic accident, requesting medical assistance or asking for help with an abusive partner. The COVID-19 pandemic…
Picture it: You’re caught up in an emergency, but you can’t talk on the phone. So you use Text-to-911. Hoping to give as much detail as possible about your situation, you decide to attach a photo to your text. What could it hurt?
The answer is, it could ruin your chances of getting help at all. Right now, the Text-to-911 system is not able to accept emojis, photos, videos or graphics. So if you send an emergency text to 911 with any emoji or attachment, you run the risk of your text never getting answered. That’s exactly what happened to a deaf man who texted 911 earlier this year with a picture and got a response saying that Text-to-911 wasn’t available…
With emergencies at a constant on top of a pandemic, Austin dispatchers and 911 operators have certainly been feeling the impact of an ongoing staff shortage.
“It’s challenging to operate so under-staffed under normal circumstances, but a prolonged crisis like this has really been very draining on everybody here I think,” said Gary Elmore, police communications supervisor with Austin Police Department…
