- Guidelines to Defining and Staffing the Dispatch Position

This section looks in detail at staffing and workload data for public safety dispatchers.  Public safety dispatchers receive information from calltakers about individuals who need assistance from fire, police, and EMS agencies and to alert and dispatch the services necessary to respond to the call for help. Dispatchers thus have a variety of duties, including gathering information, dispatching appropriate types of units to the scene of an emergency, responding to field units and monitoring the location and activities of emergency services personnel.

The wide variety of ways that these positions are structured across communications centers can complicate the task of defining the dispatch position and establishing standard criteria for staffing.  The exact work requirements for dispatchers are highly contingent on a complex set of local factors.  Some of the variations in the position are based upon:

1. Work setting.  Public safety dispatchers may work in a centralized communications center, police station or fire station, hospital, or other setting.

2. Types of service provided.  Public safety dispatchers may be responsible for police, fire, or ambulance units or a combination of these.  Dispatch for a variety of other services may also be provided.

3. Specialization.  Public safety dispatchers may be solely dedicated to dispatch, or they may also have duties such as receiving emergency calls or providing medical instruction to those on the scene of the emergency.  Police dispatchers in medium and large agencies may be solely responsible for a channel, frequency, or talk group dedicated to servicing requests for data, tow trucks, other support agencies or interfacing with data networks not available to police units.  Dispatchers in these roles typically may be responsible for servicing many more field units but the workload may be less challenging in terms of stress than the primary radio dispatchers

4. Number of units, channels, and frequencies monitored.

5. Fire dispatchers may be responsible for monitoring fire alarm panels and alarm circuits.  This workload, in addition to the dispatching functions, could significantly add to a workload within a communications center.