Correction, they are not respectful of the requirements for the dispatchers.
There are many excuses. We run 24/7 with six dispatchers. (Hopefully number 7 joins us soon.) Rarely is there training nearby, so requires transportation, hotel and meals reimbursement. The lack of variety of courses that will benefit the department (their view).
A couple of us have taken it upon ourselves to utilize the on-line courses through our state POST. That was good until we took all they had to offer. Even our state POST website is very limited on dispatcher online courses.
Why is it that dispatch, in particular the dispatchers, are so far down the training food chain?
When I started dispatching (yes, in a different century) there was no formal training beyond, "Here is the mike, push this little silver button to be heard. Here is a paper log to write down what you say and what they say plus the times." Yep, that really was my first basic dispatcher training.
I eventually worked for a larger agency, still using paper logs but now had the advantage of a foot pedal to talk on the radio. But there was still no requirement for dispatcher training by the state. Which meant there was little in standardized training. I remember going to meetings with other dispatchers from the area and brainstorming ideas of what should be standardized in training and get the state POST to require such training.
When our family started to grow, and both hubby and I working shift work, and no family nearby, I made the switch to a job with more regular hours. Here's a laugh for you. I went to cosmetology school (this isn't the punch line yet)... 1600 hours later received my certificate to take the state board exam for my cosmetology license. Here's the punch line (want to make sure you don't miss it)... it took me longer to get my license to use a pair of scissors on someone's hair than it did for hubby to complete the Police Academy.
When I returned to dispatching a few years later there was (tah dah) the requirement of 120 hours (3 weeks) of academy training by state POST! What? Three, three, threeeee weeks? That's all? But at least a step in the right direction. Everyone receiving some standardized training.
Now to get back to the requirement of 24 hours of continued education accrued over a 24 month (yes over two years) period. Ugh. Not that big of a deal, right? A couple shifts a year and we meet the state POST requirements. So why do we have to work so hard to get our department to give us the hours?
The very large agency I worked for, before my current small (yeah) agency, met the continued education requirements cleverly. They purchased numerous training CD's from our state POST (most of them geared towards officers but that wasn't a big issue) that were anywhere from two hours to four hours in length. Sometimes there would be two or four of us watching a CD. Or one of us would on our computer during slow periods.
I have suggested we "borrow" these CD's and those shifts when there are two dispatchers on duty, have one watching a training CD. If each dispatcher watched one CD a month we would easily meet the state POST requirements and it wouldn't be a financial burden on the agency.
Five years later.... still not happening.
How does your agency handle the continued education/training for dispatchers?
Why is it that dispatch, in particular the dispatchers, are so far down the training food chain?
When I started dispatching (yes, in a different century) there was no formal training beyond, "Here is the mike, push this little silver button to be heard. Here is a paper log to write down what you say and what they say plus the times." Yep, that really was my first basic dispatcher training.
I eventually worked for a larger agency, still using paper logs but now had the advantage of a foot pedal to talk on the radio. But there was still no requirement for dispatcher training by the state. Which meant there was little in standardized training. I remember going to meetings with other dispatchers from the area and brainstorming ideas of what should be standardized in training and get the state POST to require such training.
When our family started to grow, and both hubby and I working shift work, and no family nearby, I made the switch to a job with more regular hours. Here's a laugh for you. I went to cosmetology school (this isn't the punch line yet)... 1600 hours later received my certificate to take the state board exam for my cosmetology license. Here's the punch line (want to make sure you don't miss it)... it took me longer to get my license to use a pair of scissors on someone's hair than it did for hubby to complete the Police Academy.
When I returned to dispatching a few years later there was (tah dah) the requirement of 120 hours (3 weeks) of academy training by state POST! What? Three, three, threeeee weeks? That's all? But at least a step in the right direction. Everyone receiving some standardized training.
Now to get back to the requirement of 24 hours of continued education accrued over a 24 month (yes over two years) period. Ugh. Not that big of a deal, right? A couple shifts a year and we meet the state POST requirements. So why do we have to work so hard to get our department to give us the hours?
The very large agency I worked for, before my current small (yeah) agency, met the continued education requirements cleverly. They purchased numerous training CD's from our state POST (most of them geared towards officers but that wasn't a big issue) that were anywhere from two hours to four hours in length. Sometimes there would be two or four of us watching a CD. Or one of us would on our computer during slow periods.
I have suggested we "borrow" these CD's and those shifts when there are two dispatchers on duty, have one watching a training CD. If each dispatcher watched one CD a month we would easily meet the state POST requirements and it wouldn't be a financial burden on the agency.
Five years later.... still not happening.
How does your agency handle the continued education/training for dispatchers?
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