Communications Dispatcher Lateral

Salary: $87,061.00 – $111,072.00 Annually

Position Summary:

Our 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Center is located on the second floor of the Public Safety Building, equipped with a state-of-the-art computer aided dispatch system, including multiple monitors, ergonomically designed furniture, and individual work stations with outside window views. The Communications Center is staffed by a team of 23 dispatchers working 10-hour shifts, handling approximately 250,000 calls for service yearly. Supervision is provided by Communications Supervisors.

Essential Functions:

• Perform a variety of disparate duties simultaneously and accurately
• Receive, triage, and process emergency and routine calls from the public requesting police or other emergency service, applying the techniques, procedures, policies, and methods used in the operation of a moderately sized public safety dispatching agency
• Interrogate callers to determine pertinent information, maintaining composure and working quickly under pressure
• Accurately track the status and location of police units
• Use a Computer Aided Dispatch system to enter pertinent response information and unit status data
• Retrieve and verbally relay information from various databases
• Monitor several different police radio frequencies and operate a variety of communications equipment and technology
• Communicate tactfully with the public and department employees under stressful situations.

Requirements:

• Equivalent to completion of the twelfth grade.
• Speak and hear clearly and precisely on the telephone, on the radio, and in person; exercise good judgment and make sound decisions in emergency situations; effectively communicate with and elicit information from callers who are injured, terrified, under attack, angry, hostile, chemically impaired, and/or suffering from mental illness; listen to lengthy explanations and extract pertinent information for responders; multitask sufficiently to perform a variety of disparate tasks simultaneously and accurately; effectively work independently with a minimum of supervision; work as part of a team; understand the geographic features and streets of the City of Santa Rosa sufficiently to deploy field units efficiently; use a keyboard to enter data at a speed necessary for adequate job performance; understand and follow oral and written instructions; comprehend and make inferences from written material; spell with accuracy sufficient to convey message; operate a computer aided dispatch system, various computer software applications, and other office equipment quickly and accurately; provide general instructions and assistance to new dispatchers; type at least 35 wpm; and satisfactorily complete the Continuing Professional Training requirement set by P.O.S.T., California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.
• Standard radio or telephone communications receiving and transmitting equipment; standard broadcasting procedures and rules; operation of common radio dispatch equipment; public safety classification codes; basic provisions of the California vehicle and penal codes.