Since 2010, the Owensboro-Daviess County 911 dispatch center has only been fully staffed and fully trained during one 4-month period, Director Paul Nave said Thursday. He said every time one person leaves, it takes about a year to get a fully trained replacement in that role.
The dispatch center currently has six full-time openings, though four candidates are in the hiring process. However, Nave noted that two dispatchers are expected to retire by March 2024, which will push the number of open positions back up to at least four.
Nave added that only five of their eight part-time positions are currently filled — and that two of the current workers have limited availability.
The difficulty in keeping it staffed? Nave said it’s the high stress that comes with the job, coupled with a work schedule that many people would prefer to avoid.
“Every job has stress, but ours is inherently greater at times due to the nature of the job. It’s life and death situations that we deal with (sometimes),” Nave said. “It could be a low stress level, and then all of a sudden you’re in a maximum stress level situation based on the call. Those are variables that I can’t control. I can’t control the call volume, and I can’t control the emergencies that happen in the community.”
Dispatchers also work a rotating shift that includes nights, weekends, and holidays.
“You’re either on afternoons, days, or nights for a rotating period. They bid every year for whatever shift they want to work on. You change days every single week,” Nave said. “That was a department-wide request by the staff. They rotate days off every week, so every once in a while they get a 2-3 day weekend. I try to accommodate that request as much as I can.”
Speaking at the 911 dispatch oversight committee meeting Thursday, Nave emphasized that Owensboro-Daviess County is not alone in the struggle to find and retain dispatchers, saying the “plight is across the United States.”
“There are very few agencies that are fully staffed right now,” he said. “It’s just a difficult job. I can’t compete with the (jobs) that can give you nights, weekends, and holidays off.”
Nave added, “The only competitive thing I have is money. That’s it. I don’t know what else to do.”
He said starting pay is “a little bit over” $47,000 per year, but those who transfer in with direct experience could earn more. (Anyone interested in applying for a dispatch position can search for job openings at owensboro.org.)
Owensboro Police Department Art Ealum, who chairs the oversight committee, acknowledged the difficulty in finding qualified candidates willing to work less-desired hours while handling stressful situations.
He said they’ve interviewed hundreds of people, but that now more than ever for potential candidates “the light bulb comes on when they hear us say” that it’s nights, weekends and potential holidays, or having to go to a training academy for 4 weeks.
“They are like ‘I can’t do that.’ … I don’t know how we overcome that because it’s a requirement,” Ealum said. “The pay has been bumped up. It is not the best in the world but is by far not the worst for law enforcement and telecommunication. It’s just this generation is not really that much into serving and making sacrifices is the best way I can say it. The people that do, we should pat them on the back and thank them.”
Nave said even if they find people willing to do the job, it’s a long process before they are fully trained.
After filling out an application, the candidate takes what Nave said is a “fairly realistic” test.
“It gives you calls coming in and has a person come over the radio and say ‘I need this.’ You have to listen to the call and enter the information. It’s a realistic test for knowing what the job entails,” he said.
After passing that test, the candidate goes through the interview process, including a suitability test, polygraph test, and other background checks.
Even after being offered the job, Nave said it then takes 18-22 weeks of in-house training depending on how fast the person picks up the skills. Then the employee has to attend a 4-week training academy in Richmond.
“It takes a year from the time I lose somebody to get a new one in here, get them trained, and get them able to take that position that was vacant,” Nave said. “We’re in a constant process of training due to the turnover.”
However, Nave said the redeeming aspect of the job is the impact dispatchers have in the community.
“It’s a rewarding career because at the end of the day, very few people can go home and say they made a difference in somebody’s life,” he said. “Every day we make a difference because of what we’ve done. We can get medical personnel there to start CPR or do the AED. If it’s in your heart and you’re compassionate about it, that’s why you’re able to deal with the enhanced stress that we have.”
