Police Dispatcher Training: Dispatchers Under Stress
Police dispatchers constantly monitor the emergency 911 calls as well as dispatch instructions under their normal daily business. Today they have computers, access to large databases and detailed maps, and Global Positioning Satellite services (GPS). Just by the use of GPS, police dispatchers can quickly find the closest location of law enforcement personnel who are out on patrol and can respond to these calls. These dispatchers are trained to dispatch the appropriate type and the number of units in response to calls for assistance. A dispatcher is responsible for the protection of their police officers by giving them as much information as they can so that the officer is not going into an unknown situation.
Normal day-to-day incidents, like lost dogs or a cat stranded in a tree are more laughable than stressful. These incidents are referred to Animal Control. Acts of violence are the real concern; spousal abuse, child neglect, robbery, gang fights, drive-by shootings, and terrible things like rape and murder, are extremely stressful. The police dispatcher training on these subjects is intense. Not everyone can handle it. Stress testing before the student applicant is accepted by the training school is very important.
Most police dispatcher training schools have imitated stress training processes. These processes contain both the legal aspect of their verbal responses as well as the wording of their response. If the caller is threatening suicide, there is a process system in place on just what to say to the caller. The material presented by the school has both visual and audio prompts. Many police dispatcher training schools use simulators. These simulators have both orchestrated materials (by actors) and live incidents that have been recorded for use by the trainers.
The growing and aging population in the United States and other parts of the world has already increased the demand for emergency services. This has created new jobs for police dispatchers. Some cities have consolidated their call centers and include police, fire, ambulance, and other emergency services. This has not only generated more job opportunities, but the consolidation has created even more stress. Now the dispatcher has to deal with a variety of emergency situations.
Another sub-set of dispatching is the transit system. These dispatchers not only schedule and route the various non-fixed bus line pick-ups, but must also deal with events occurring on the transit buses. Some of these events are often similar to police dispatcher calls; fights on the bus, sudden medical situations, i.e. a heart attack or a seizure.
Other events, although not as stressful, are break-downs. A bus stops running and the driver and the dispatcher must deal with irate passengers. The trained dispatcher must know who to call in the maintenance shop, must schedule another bus to pick up the passengers, and due to time restrictions imposed by city ordinances, these passengers must be picked up within minutes of a breakdown or other incident—sometimes from a limited resource of equipment.
There are about 100,000 police dispatchers in the United States alone. The job rate of growth is nearing 18%. This is a very large number for police dispatcher training needs. There needs to be more training schools—and that need is urgent.
