| John M. Eller |
Telecommunications Training, Delcom Style
| John M. Eller has been Police Chief in Brookhaven, Pennsylvania, since 1981. In addition to being a columnist for 9-1-1 Magazine, he is a certified Police Instructor, Consultant, Criminal Justice Instructor, Weekly Newspaper Columnist and Cablevision talk show host. |
This article can be found on
page 54 of the Sept/Oct 1997
issue of 9-1-1 Magazine.
Emergency dispatching has become a career of its own and training is of the utmost importance. In Lima, Pennsylvania, the Delaware County Emergency Communications Center (Delcom) is recognized as one of the nation's premier dispatching centers, having been featured on ABC's Prime Time Live and NBC's Dateline. Delaware County utilizes a county-wide dispatch system for approximately 35 police agencies (including mine), 76 fire departments, plus 46 ambulance services connected to those fire departments and paramedic units associated with seven hospitals.
Ed Truitt, Emergency Services Director for Delcom, told me that fifteen years ago the center had a turnover rate of 45%. However, after a rigorous training program was instituted over the years, the turnover rate has dropped to approximately one half of one percent.
The Division of Emergency Communications in Delaware County is part of the Department of Emergency Services and conducts a 6-month, 500-hour training program, a portion of which is the APCO Standard Dispatcher Training Program.
Applicants begin with a pre-employment and personal background check. Once accepted they attend a "real world" lecture - as Truitt phrases it - telling them exactly what is expected of them while they are in training. Out of a class of 35 students, they are told, only about five or six will actually become certified as emergency telecommunicators.
Applicants are hired on a part-time basis and encouraged not to leave their full time place of employment. It is also explained that there is one training class per year and that the graduates are graded by score. If a full-time vacancy becomes available, the top person on the list is offered the position. Should they decline the position, their part-time employment is terminated. According to Truitt, this policy became necessary several years ago when nine part-time telecommunicators refused a full-time position and the position couldn't be filled.
The first 3 months of the academy consists of classroom training from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Attendance is mandatory and the door is locked promptly at 6:00. Non-compliance results in dismissal. Although this policy may seem harsh, Truitt reports that it established a good work ethic for a full-time position. Persons being tardy and calling out sick affect other personnel. This policy also induces a certain amount of stress into the training format in order to be able to measure an applicant's ability to handle stress on-line.
During the classroom segment, students are tested every evening on the prior night's lesson, and are expected to achieve a passing score of 80%. This encourages students to listen, take notes, and commit essentials to memory. Truitt reported that telecommunicators without memory retention capabilities are of little value to a communications center. Students failing to pass a test are given one re-test; failure of the second test results in dismissal.
When the student has successfully completed both the APCO Course and a local policies and procedures class, they are given an introduction to the county's Computer-Aided Dispatch system. After a general keyboarding orientation, students start to receive emergency calls simulated by the training officer, which need to be processed and entered into CAD. When this phase has been completed the student is moved into a simulator room which houses actual working consoles provided by Orbacom. The consoles capable of operating either live or in simulation by the flip of a switch. The training officer sits in an adjacent room and feeds calls to the trainee using an Orbacom "Calida" mini-consoles, monitoring via closed-circuit television.
At this stage the students' judgment skills are evaluated as well as their stress and attitude levels. At some point in their simulated training process, three trainers will bombard the student with simulated critical calls, one by internal emergency telephone, one by simulated radio, and one portraying an irate shift supervisor over the intercom system (do supervisers ever become irate?) These stress related simulations separate those who can score well on tests from those who can perfrom well and make decisions under pressure.
Once the student completes this stage of the training they are taken into the actual communications center for the final training phase, one-on-one under the watchful eye of a training officer. Having completed this final stage of training, the students are finally certified as 9-1-1 call takers. Once a calltaker gains sufficient work experience and seniority (usually one year), training as a dispatcher on the radio positions will commence. This usually takes between 8 and 12 months. Fire Dispatchers must have at least three years overall radio experience, and the training process for fire usually takes one year.
New personnel are monitored by training officers for one year after hire. In-service training is maintained for all personnel on a continuing basis. Truitt reports that training officers will randomly "VOX-tape" personnel and then sit down with them and review their findings and offer suggestions.
Information on Delcom-style training can be obtained from Ed Truitt or Steve Giancristoforo at the Delaware County Communications Center, 36 N. Middletown Rd., Lima, PA 19063-5595 (610/565-8700).
