Dispatcher

City of Springdale, AR; Springdale (AR); On-site; USD 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

The City of Springdale, AR is seeking a dispatcher to provide essential communications and support for police, fire, EMS, and animal control. The incumbent will interact with the public and other agencies, serving as the primary contact between citizens and public safety departments.

This role requires on-call hours and weekend/holiday shifts as needed. Responsibilities include handling administrative, non-emergency, and E911 calls, operating the CAD system, and dispatching across Police Channel

Qualifications

• Customer service to internal/external customers.
• Answer non-emergency and E911 calls; determine priority and response.
• Operate a communications console to dispatch police, fire, EMS, and animal control.
• Monitor and update personnel activity using a CAD program.
• Process radio and phone traffic across multiple channels; coordinate with external agencies.

Responsibilities

• Provide timely information to public safety personnel about locations, persons, and safety hazards.
• Answer PSAP 911 calls; interpret map data for wireless 911.Coordinate with poison control, language line, and 988 counseling as needed.
• Maintain logs and records; enter court documents when required.
• Maintain internal systems and equipment lists for communications across departments.

Skills

Customer service

Communication

Multitasking

Public safety dispatch

CAD/PRS tools

Education

High school diploma

Tools

Microsoft Office

CAD system

ACIC/NCIC databases

Job description

The incumbent is responsible to provide essential communications and support functions for police, fire, ambulance, and animal control personnel. They must interact with the general public and other governmental agencies in order to gather and disseminate accurate information to public safety personnel. The Dispatcher is the primary point of contact between the citizens and visitors of Springdale and the police and fire departments. The incumbent is considered essential personnel and is required to work their scheduled shift, not limited to weekends and holidays, to include mandatory on-call hours.

Safety/Security Sensitive Designation

This position is classified as safety/security sensitive under the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment and is therefore subject to random drug and alcohol testing.

• Provide good customer service to both internal and external customers; maintain positive and effective working relationships with other City employees (especially members of their own team), and have regular and reliable attendance that is non-disruptive.
• Answer administrative, non-emergency, and E911 phone calls and determine the priority and appropriate response for these calls.
• Responsible for operating a communications console and related equipment to dispatch necessary police, fire, EMS, animal control personnel and after hour City on-call staff, in response to requests for assistance in emergency situations in accordance with established departmental procedures and policies. Monitor and update personnel activity statuses using a complex computer aided dispatch (CAD) program.
• Police Channel A – Dispatch and monitor all radio traffic generated by police personnel related to calls for service and self-initiated activity. Includes directing the "net" during emergency situations and being able to determine when calls should be held for cross beat dispatching, versus calls that have priority.
• Police Channel B – Process all informational requests from officers, including but not limited, to driver's license checks, criminal history checks, vehicle checks, wants and warrants checks, calls for wreckers, incident number and times, etc. Dispatch and monitor non-emergency police radio traffic during emergency situations when Police Channel A has directed the net.
• Fire Dispatch Channel – Dispatch and monitor all radio traffic generated by fire personnel related to calls for service and self-initiated activity.
• Provide timely information to appropriate public safety personnel regarding relevant history of locations and/or persons, to include weapons, narcotics, violence, other safety hazards, locating hydrant information, weather information, paging notifications, etc.
• 911 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) – Answer all E911 calls for the City of Springdale. Interpret map data when a wireless call is received; responsible for recording and entering 911 data for statistical purposes. Coordinate with external agencies for services as needed, such as poison control, language line, 988 counseling service, etc.
• Police Department Business Lines – Answer calls from other agencies, departments, and the public. Transfer calls as needed to appropriate personnel. Answer inquiries related to a variety of topics, such as special events, weather, other agencies, administrative lines, address locations, etc.
• Perform a variety of routine clerical, administrative, and technical duties, such as completing standard office forms, fulfilling written requests for information from internal and external agencies, filing dispatch records, and maintaining written and computer generated logs.
• Utilize the Arkansas Crime Information Center (ACIC) and National Crime Information Center (NCIC) databases to assist law enforcement personnel in their duties; enter, modify, delete and confirm transactions for wanted persons, stolen property and missing persons. Check and confirm validity of driver's licenses, vehicle licenses/registration and warrants; research criminal history records as required and provide explanation to authorized personnel, send and receive electronic messages; comply with regulatory laws and policies regarding each database.
• Maintain written and electronic logs of traffic light outages, street closures, and other information as requested which may affect public safety responses to calls for service.
• Correspond with utility companies, wreckers, coroner's offices, business representatives, and other various agencies as requested and needed by public safety personnel or the general public.
• Maintain all updated addressing, contact information.
• Enter court documents such as warrants, no contact orders, etc. as needed. Ensure documents are entered in an accurate and timely manner into the appropriate and required systems.
• Maintain internal systems used for communication between different departments. i.e. Springdale Message Board, extra patrol list, hospice list, ACTIVE911 system, radio logs, Rapid S.O.S, Smart 911, 3SI tracker, and equipment lists.
• Responsible for maintaining required Continuing Dispatch Education (CDE) hours, call processing times, and recertifications; must maintain a high standard of compliance on all calls and radio transactions.
• Perform other duties as required or assigned.

• High school diploma plus special training and additional college courses and 2 years of related experience and/or training.
• Must be able to obtain: ACIC Level I & II Certification, Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) Certification, CPR Certification, Public Safety 40-hour Basic Telecommunicator Certification, Emergency Fire Dispatch (EFD) Certification, NIMS -FEMA 100,200, and 700, NCMEC (National Missing and Exploited Children) training, Rave Mobile Safety Training, ACTIVE911 Training; Criminal Justice Information Systems Certification (CJIS), NAMUS.
• Preferred: Certified Training Officer (CTO) Certification.
• The incumbent must be proficient in the use of personal computer, Microsoft Office Suite, HTE AS400, Tyler Enterprise CAD, RMS and mapping systems, P25 digital 800 MHz trunked communications radio system, ACIC/NCIC, fax machine, email, TTY, Vesta 911, cell phone, Locution, Springdale Message Board, PaperVision, Pro QA system, language line services, multi-line phone system, headsets, recorder, alarm systems, various camera systems, time and attendance software, and standard office equipment.
• The incumbent must have the ability to utilize both internal and external resources to obtain information and data necessary to carry out routine assignments and special projects.
• Must have ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with management and staff.
• Requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges, a willingness to lead, take charge and offer opinions and direction.
• Requires the incumbent to establish and maintain personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
• Requires developing one's own way of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
• The job requires creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems.
• Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services including customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• The job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful.
• The job also requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
• The job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone and being personally connected with others on the job and regular contact within the department and with other departments as needed.
• Must have knowledge of electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software.
• Must have knowledge of media production and alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral and visual media.
• Must have knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal and human life.
• Must have the ability to learn various processes and procedures, such as handling calls from citizens who may be under the influence, suicidal, mentally impaired, irate, etc. in a professional manner.
• Ability to handle multiple tasks and yield multiple calls virtually at the same time.
• Must be able to withstand a complete background investigation, polygraph examination, and drug screening(s).

Must be able to pass FBI criminal background fingerprint check and have the ability to comply with state and federal requirements for criminal justice information security standards and obtain necessary certifications.