Public Safety Telecommunicator Operate telephone, radio, or other communication systems to receive and communicate requests for emergency assistance at 9-1-1 public safety answering points and emergency operations centers. Take information from the public and other sources regarding crimes, threats, disturbances, acts of terrorism, fires, medical emergencies, and other public safety matters. May coordinate and provide information to law enforcement and emergency response personnel. May access sensitive databases and other information sources as needed. May provide additional instructions to callers based on knowledge of and certification in law enforcement, fire, or emergency medical procedures.
Public Safety Telecommunicator is Also Know as
In different settings, Public Safety Telecommunicator is titled as
- 911 Dispatcher
- Communications Officer
- Communications Operator
- Communications Specialist
- Dispatcher
- Emergency Communications Dispatcher
- Emergency Communications Operator (ECO)
- Police Dispatcher
- Public Safety Dispatcher
- Telecommunicator
Education and Training of Public Safety Telecommunicator
Public Safety Telecommunicator is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Public Safety Telecommunicator
Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.
Education Required for Public Safety Telecommunicator
These occupations usually require a high school diploma.
Degrees Related to Public Safety Telecommunicator
Training Required for Public Safety Telecommunicator
Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Public Safety Telecommunicator in different industries are
- Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance
- Emergency Medical Technicians
- Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service
- First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers
- Paramedics
- Transit and Railroad Police
- First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers
- Ambulance Drivers and Attendants, Except Emergency Medical Technicians
- Telephone Operators
- Airfield Operations Specialists
- Emergency Management Directors
- Security Guards
- Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
- First-Line Supervisors of Passenger Attendants
- First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives
- Air Traffic Controllers
- Security Management Specialists
- Information Security Engineers
- Forest Fire Inspectors and Prevention Specialists
- Receptionists and Information Clerks
What Do Public Safety Telecommunicator do?
- Determine response requirements and relative priorities of situations, and dispatch units in accordance with established procedures.
- Record details of calls, dispatches, and messages.
- Question callers to determine their locations and the nature of their problems to determine type of response needed.
- Enter, update, and retrieve information from teletype networks and computerized data systems regarding such things as wanted persons, stolen property, vehicle registration, and stolen vehicles.
- Scan status charts and computer screens, and contact emergency response field units to determine emergency units available for dispatch.
- Relay information and messages to and from emergency sites, to law enforcement agencies, and to all other individuals or groups requiring notification.
- Receive incoming telephone or alarm system calls regarding emergency and non-emergency police and fire service, emergency ambulance service, information, and after-hours calls for departments within a city.
- Maintain access to, and security of, highly sensitive materials.
- Observe alarm registers and scan maps to determine whether a specific emergency is in the dispatch service area.
- Maintain files of information relating to emergency calls, such as personnel rosters and emergency call-out and pager files.
- Monitor various radio frequencies, such as those used by public works departments, school security, and civil defense, to stay apprised of developing situations.
- Learn material and pass required tests for certification.
- Read and effectively interpret small-scale maps and information from a computer screen to determine locations and provide directions.
- Answer routine inquiries, and refer calls not requiring dispatches to appropriate departments and agencies.
- Provide emergency medical instructions to callers.
- Monitor alarm systems to detect emergencies, such as fires and illegal entry into establishments.
- Test and adjust communication and alarm systems, and report malfunctions to maintenance units.
- Operate and maintain mobile dispatch vehicles and equipment.
Qualities of Good Public Safety Telecommunicator
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Tools Used by Public Safety Telecommunicator
- Automatic call distributing ACD consoles
- Base station radios
- Desktop computers
- Digital recording equipment
- Intercom systems
- Mainframe computers
- Mainframe terminals
- Mobile data computers
- Multi-line telephone systems
- Personal computers
- Radio scanners
- Switchboards
- Telecommunication devices TDD
- Teletype terminals
- Two way radios
Technology Skills required for Public Safety Telecommunicator
- 911 system information databases
- Computer aided dispatch software
- Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
- Geographic information system GIS systems
- Intrado SchoolMessenger
- Law enforcement information databases
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft SharePoint
- Microsoft Word
- National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database
- National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System NLETS
- SAP software
- Spillman Technologies Spillman Computer-Aided Dispatch
- Web browser software