Thread: 911 Operator

How does one get started? Schools, training etc... What is the starting pay, average pay? What is the job outlook.

Well it depends on where you are located. I have seen that in California, agencies require prior dispatching experienced and be certified in POST. Where I work we require some sort of customer service background, that does not have to be in a police related field. APCO International officers several on line courses that will help you get ready for a job, however as in my agency we put our new hires through a 14 week academy class then 18 weeks of on the job training. Start looking at area departments around where you live, see if they require prior experience and then start applying. As for the pay, it really depends on the agency (at least in my area). We start off around $19.00 an hour, however other agencies in my area start off around $14.00 an hour.

Similar to what CPD said, it can vary.

When I became a part-time 911 operator it began by my applying to a county job opening. After jumping through the normal hiring hoops, (civil service exam, physical, interview, etc) those qualified did "ride alongs" with several different dispatchers. After that, if it was determined that we were still interested and recommended by our "Training Officer" we began the formal training. After that we went back to being 2nd man on the console for a few weeks before we flew solo. Entire process probably took 8-10 months. And yes, we lost 1-2 people at each step, for various reasons.

Out here in Delaware and Pennsylvania it all depends on if you're looking at a city dispatch or county/state dispatch. I have worked city dispatch and it was a month from the time I was interviewed to the time I started training. Training for city dispatch was all OTJ and you started at just over $17/hr. I currently work county dispatch and it was different in the aspect that for city you get hired as a dispatcher but for county you have to start as a call taker then promote to dispatcher. The class training for call taker was 3 months then after you pass all your test and final your CTO was a minimum of 144 and max of 288. Then after getting promoted to go to dispatcher class it was 3 weeks classroom with a final pratical then same hours for CTO time. Call takers start at just over $39,000 with the built in OT and dispatchers advance to just over $43,000 with the built in OT.