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New 911 center is long on skills, short on staff
New Emergency Communications Center: spacious and short of staff
by Hugh Muir
Date published: 4/8/2008
by Hugh Muir
Stafford's new Emergency Communications Center answers all of the county's 911 calls and dispatches police, fire fighters and medical technicians to meet cries for help.
Although it has nearly three times its former space as well as state-of-the-art equipment, its budget limits it to less than half of the recommended number of staff.
The new center is at the heart of the recently opened Ford T. Humphrey Building, which also is home for the Sheriff's Office and the Fire & Rescue Department. The complex's formal dedication will be May 20. But it has been functioning at full speed since early February.
In nationwide recognition of the dispatchers who pull 12-hour shifts wearing headsets and monitoring a multiplex of television screens, a U.S. House of Representatives resolution has designated April as "National 9-1-1 Education Month." And April 13 to 19 has been proclaimed National Telecommunications Week.
But those telecommunicators in the Humphrey Building are stretched thin. Last year the center received some 45,000 calls. Two-thirds are from cell phones. A majority of the calls are domestic disputes. All these calls are handled on any one shift by five dispatchers and a supervisor. One communicator is the call taker and the other four, calling up crisis locations on video screens, dispatch the necessary assistance by radio.
There are 18 emergency lines coming in to the center. If one line is busy, the call automatically rolls over to the next. Any one staffer can take over another's role if the load gets heavy. "Multitasking is what we do all the time," said Karen L. Hileman, assistant manager of emergency communications.
The Emergency Communications Center staff numbers 29: 25 full-time communications officers, one volunteer (unpaid) call taker, and three shift supervisors. For three days they work 12 hours on, 12 hours off, then have two days off, then work two days of 12 hours on and off, and then take three days off. Then the cycle repeats. They usually eat at their desks and get two 15 minute walk-around breaks during each 12-hour shift.
At the core of the operation are the 25 full-time communicators. The Association of Public Safety Communication Officials, headquartered in Richmond, has made a nationwide study of communicator staff needs. Its conclusion is that Stafford County, for its population, should have 64. Stafford has had no new communications hires since 2004.
For the fiscal year 2009 budget, the Sheriff's Office asked for 12 new emergency communications officers. So far, the Board of Supervisors has turned them down. In fact, no new hires have been approved for any department. There will be a public hearing on the budget April 15; it is expected to be adopted April 22.
"You can't put a dollar value on what we do," Hileman said. "We're short a lot." It often means doubling up and pulling people in on overtime.
Nonetheless, the communications center is geared for expansion. It now has 18 work stations (five manned on a normal shift), compared with seven in its old facility. Its modern conveniences include individual heating and cooling controls for each station, and ergonomic consoles with seats and desks that go up and down at the touch of a button, so a dispatcher can stand up and stretch and still work during the long shifts.
"We are the first first-responder," Hileman said. Keying their consoles, the communicators can dispatch assistance while at the same time talking to the original caller. "We want to keep the callers on the line," Hileman said. "We are their only direct link. We have nothing but our words and our voice inflections to reassure them until help arrives."
Hugh Muir: 540/735-1975
Email: hmuir@freelancestar.com
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Date published: 4/8/2008
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