Police dispatching is a career choice, which must be approached with dedication and a willingness to learn. Each police dispatcher hired at Denver 911, is required to successfully complete classroom and on-the-floor training before he or she is allowed to dispatch on his or her own. Therefore, a new employee must be able to dedicate themselves to a strict and intensive training regimen just to make it to a probationary status.
Once you’re hired as a police dispatcher at Denver 911, you will begin training in a classroom environment. Each day for approximately eight weeks, you will attend structured classes, which are taught by former police dispatchers. You will learn about policy and procedure, geography, the operation of our CAD (Computer Operated Dispatch) system, our radio systems, and critical incident management among many other topics.
For the most part, the classroom portion of training promotes an environment of friendly competition between the students. It is not uncommon for students to keep close track of their and other student class standings; because seniority on the floor is determined by your finishing rank in the classroom. When a class is finished and the new dispatchers move up to the floor, everyone in that class has already become close friends. That friendship can help while going through the on-the-floor phase as well. It’s always nice to have friends who are learning the same things you are!
Once out of the classroom, each new dispatcher is assigned to work with a lead or training dispatcher for a month at a time. Each month is spent on a different shift, with a different trainer. Your time on-the-floor is, in my opinion, the most important part of training. Each day presents new and exciting challenges while dispatching for the Denver Police Department. It is not unthinkable to go from a very slow point during the shift, to full speed within a few seconds!
During the on-the-floor portion of training, new dispatchers learn to put into practice all the things we were taught in the classroom. Learning the principle behind critical incident response and management is so much different than actually doing it. When you get onto the floor as a new dispatcher, the realization of how much the citizens and the officers of this city depend on us makes this phase of training so incredibly worth-while. The best part of training on the floor is having a trainer at your side in case there’s a problem.
One thing, which seems to be common amongst all new police dispatchers, is that during the training phases; each dispatcher becomes more and more intent on being released from training and being able to put all the things we have learned into play when it counts.
The day comes that each new dispatcher is released from training and we assume our place on the dispatch floor. Each decision we make directly affects the response from the police department to the citizens. Each call-for-service that appears on our computer screen is a citizen in need of some action from the police. Sometimes, the action needed is on a life or death basis, sometimes it’s not. However, every time we are asked by the citizenry to respond, that response starts with the dispatchers.
- Brian M, Denver Police Dispatcher