Emergency Services Dispatcher

Position Summary:

Employees in the class are responsible for monitoring, dispatching and coordinating a variety of emergency services (fire, rescue and ambulance, law enforcement, and emergency management). Dispatchers also maintain radio communications with road patrol officers requesting back-up assistance. Incumbents monitor numerous telephone systems, alarm systems and radio frequencies simultaneously and must exercise sound independent judgment in prioritizing calls and dispatching appropriate emergency services to situations which may involve danger to life and/or damage to property as quickly as possible. This job involves an unusual working environment which includes high stress dealing with life and death situations, the need to remain calm in emergency situations and the need to be polite when dealing with angry and abusive people. Incumbents must maintain accurate records of all calls placed and received. Employees are required to perform various clerical duties as needed. Does related work, as required.

Essential Functions:

• Receives calls from the public in need of fire, rescue, emergency medical, law enforcement or other emergency services and dispatches appropriate
  emergency personnel;
• Queries the caller in a calm, systematic manner to determine the seriousness and nature of the situation, the location, the services needed, and other information necessary to evaluate the situation;
• Exercises sound independent judgment in dispatching services and coordinating the participation of various emergency personnel/equipment to the scene;
• Maintains a continuous log of all telephone and radio calls sent out or received, records all fire and emergency equipment in the county, and logs equipment out of service;
• Operates telephone communications equipment and inputs data into computer aided dispatch systems utilizing a typewriter style computer terminal keyboard;
• Utilizes computerized data-bases (including NYSPIN system) to access and record data and information;
• Acts as a secondary radio dispatcher for other agencies;
• Receives and answers radio calls for various agencies and transfers calls to appropriate personnel;
• Receives and relays intra-county mutual aid calls;
• Receives and records in log, location of fire alarms and emergency calls;
• Performs filing, typing, and other clerical duties as needed;
• Gives instructions to callers and provides emergency medical instruction to callers using standard accepted medical guidelines.

Requirements:

• Graduation from high school or possession of an appropriate equivalency diploma recognized by the NYS Department of Education and completion of at least 12 semester credit hours at a regionally accredited NYS registered college or university in either Criminal Justice, Communications, Computer Sciences, Customer Service, Emergency Management, or related field;
• Graduation from high school or possession of an appropriate equivalency diploma recognized by the NYS Department of Education and six (6) months experience as a Public Safety Dispatcher, tele-communicator or closely-related position;
• If you are offered employment, you must be willing to submit to criminal history checks by both the State of New York Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Successful candidate will be required to pass additional background checks including screening, interviews, fingerprint checks, psychological exam(s), and may include polygraph.
• A valid driver’s license is required.