Being an emergency dispatcher is a tough job: All day, dispatchers have to field a slew of stressful and even traumatizing situations while remaining calm and efficient. During the pandemic, job vacancies at dispatch centers increased dramatically, and they haven’t bounced back.
A study published earlier this year found that more than half of dispatch centers in the U.S. were struggling to fill vacant positions, and San Francisco is one of them. Right now the city’s goal is to have 160-165 fully trained dispatchers. Right now, they only have 126, with 14 people in training.
This staffing crisis is one of the reasons that San Francisco is struggling to meet its response time goals. In 2019, the city adopted the National Emergency Number Association standard for 911 call processing: that means they should be answering 90 percent of 911 calls within 15 seconds or less. But according to the Department of Emergency Management, they’re well-below that goal. In October, they answered only 72 percent of their calls within 15 seconds.
On top of the work being stressful, the hiring process for dispatchers is lengthy and involved. It involves a polygraph test, psychological evaluations, oral-exams, and a year’s worth of training. But they’re six-figure, government jobs that don’t require a college degree. In a place as expensive as San Francisco, it’s surprising there aren’t more people applying to these positions.
In February, a group of industry stakeholder associations worked with the National 911 Program to create a list of suggestions for hiring and retaining dispatchers. Among those suggestions: offer part-time positions, hire people with unconventional education and work backgrounds, and consider using Artificial Intelligence for certain tasks.
The Department of Emergency Management told KALW that they’re exploring options to streamline the recruitment and hiring process, and they just raised the annual base maximum salary from $126,000 to $132,000.
