Kittcom in need of more dispatchers

by | Sep 9, 2019 | Comm Center News

When a 911 call is made in Kittitas County, whether that be for a medical emergency, a fire or the need for law enforcement presence, Kittcom directs the call to the appropriate public safety agency. But Kittcom, which{span} serves 17 public safety agencies,{/span} is currently in a hiring crisis and is in need of new recruits.

Darlene Mainwaring remembers writing on a spiral notebook, recording 911 calls and later transcribing the details of those calls on a typewriter. She took the job as a dispatcher right after college, never expecting it would turn into a 29-year-long career and the current Director of Kittcom.

Dispatchers trained to work as teams in a high-stress environment

by | Sep 9, 2019 | Comm Center News

Tucked away in a nondescript building near Bowers Field, the only telltale sign of the Kittcom headquarters is an impressive 140-foot antenna apparatus. Inside a room within the building, dispatchers sit behind computer arrays providing the lifeline between people in crisis and first responders.

The 4,500-square-foot building has been home to the operations center since 1999, when it moved from its old 700-square-foot location in the Ellensburg Public Safety Building. Teams of two civilian dispatchers work as teams on 12-hour shifts during the week, with a third dispatcher added on during the weekends. In the 12 months ending in June 30, 2018, the center handled 37,171 dispatchable calls, not including traffic stops. Seventeen public safety agencies are handled through the center, with he Washington Department of Natural Resources and Washington State Patrol being the exceptions within the county.

Summit County’s 911 dispatchers face staffing challenges, long hours and little hope for …

by | Sep 9, 2019 | Comm Center News

The hardest calls are the ones with kids. Or maybe the searches that stretch from hours into days. Or ones with a more personal connection, like when the unresponsive male is the same age as your neighbor’s son, or it’s happening on the street you grew up on.

When Summit County dispatchers pick up a 911 call, they don’t know what’s going to be on the other end of the line. It could be the lady who calls once a week asking for the number for the library. Or a man overcome with emotion at seeing a pregnant squirrel that’s just been hit by a car — send units immediately.