Public Safety Dispatcher (Entry)

Solano County; Fairfield (CA); On-site; USD 52,000 - 72,000; Full time

Job summary

Solano County invites you to apply for a challenging, fast-paced career as a Public Safety Dispatcher (Entry). You will learn to receive, evaluate, and relay requests for law enforcement, fire, and emergency services to the appropriate personnel.

This fully benefited, full-time role emphasizes accurate data entry, rapid decision-making, and coordination across agencies. A high school diploma or GED and a 40 WPM typing speed are required.

Qualifications

• No experience is required.
• Education: High school diploma, GED or equivalent.
• Typing speed: 40 WPM (net) required.

Responsibilities

• Receive requests and dispatch for law enforcement, fire, and other services.
• Evaluate requests for validity and priority; dispatch appropriate units.
• Log call information into CAD and monitor unit activity.
• Provide pre-arrival medical instructions when needed.
• Coordinate inter-agency communications and maintain key logs.

Skills

Typing speed 40 WPM

Education

High school diploma/GED

Job description

To Protect and Serve the Community!

The Sheriff’s Office is dedicated to the protection and well‑being of every person in Solano County by providing excellent community service.

The values of the Sheriff’s Office are to bring:

• Professionalism: Performing to the highest standards with integrity, ethical behavior and accountability.
• Trust: Confidence in the character and ability to meet expectations.
• Courage: To persevere with mental and moral strength in the face of difficulty.
• Innovation: Embrace and inspire creativity to apply better solutions that accomplish goals and outcomes.
• Teamwork: Unified collaboration to accomplish common goals without regard to personal agendas.
• Service: Providing professional assistance in support of the community's best interests and well‑being.
• Respect: To value and embrace individuality with special regard to differences.

THE POSITION

Solano County invites you to apply for a challenging, fast paced, rewarding career as a Public Safety Dispatcher (Entry). In this position you learn to receive, evaluate and relay requests for law enforcement, emergency and other services to the appropriate personnel. This position is characterized by the responsibility to perform a range of entry level duties that assists community members and agencies with emergency needs by receiving and dispatching calls received via phone and/or text; receives caller information, learns to relay information to appropriate unit or agency, and provides assistance to callers as needed; learns to log call information into computer; learns to monitor activity of all public safety units to determine status of incident and location of units and learns to provide pre‑arrival medical instructions.

The current recruitment is to fill full‑time regular positions. The eligible list established from this recruitment will be used to fill part‑time and full‑time regular, limited‑term or extra‑help positions as vacancies occur or the need arises.

Duties may include but are not limited to the following:

• Learns to receive requests and dispatch for law enforcement, fire service and other services; evaluates requests for validity, priority and type of response required; dispatch appropriate individual/agency to respond to request; relay information and/or instruction to personnel in the field; coordinate some non‑emergency activities, process inter‑agency email messages, and dispense keys for control lockbox and maintain key log.
• Learns to retrieve/update criminal information and motor vehicle/license records using national and state criminal information computer systems (C.L.E.T.S); enters, removes, confirms, modifies, and/or updates entries and data as needed; enters and runs inquiries on data such as vehicle registrations, driver’s license records, criminal histories, warrants, lost/stolen property, or missing/wanted persons; receives be‑on‑lookout (BOL) notices and broadcasts/distributes as appropriate; sends or responds to confirmations on warrants, stolen vehicles, stolen tags, stolen vehicle parts, and stolen guns; types C.L.E.T.S. entries and processes C.L.E.T.S. transactions; verifies C.L.E.T.S. entries; ensures integrity/security of data and adherence to system requirements.
• Learns to monitor and/or operate communication equipment, multiphone lines, multiple computer and emergency medical communications, which may include telephone equipment, radiocommunication equipment, audio recorded, text telephone relay, (TTY/TDD), printers, computer aided dispatching (CAD) system, paging systems, alarm panels, card reader/door lock system, general office equipment and other equipment/systems.
• Learns to dispatch appropriate agency personnel to incident locations; determines nature of emergency, number of units needed, and nearest available units; maintains communications with all parties involved and coordinates and monitors situation requiring mutual aid with other jurisdiction/agencies.
• Learns to provide pre‑arrival instructions to citizens who report medical emergencies using established protocols.
• Learns to respond to requests for information involving license plates, driver’s license records, criminal history records, warrants, missing/wanted persons, location of individuals, stolen property, telephone numbers, or other information; obtains/provides background information as requested.

Experience: No experience is required.

Education/Training: High school diploma, GED or equivalent.

Certificate: A net keyboard typing speed of 40 words per minute (WPM) is required.

DOCUMENT SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS

Applicants may submit a typing certificate. If you choose to submit a typing certificate, the typing certificate must contain a minimum NET speed of (40) words per minute. It must be a timed 3‑5 minute test, include the gross number of words typed per minute, and the number of errors. It must be from an accredited school or a qualified agency with an examiner's signature. Certificates obtained through the internet (online) will not be accepted. (For candidates without a certification a typing test will be provided).

Applicants that have participated in prior Solano County skills testing must contact [e-mail] by the final filing deadline to request their prior results be applied to this recruitment – this will not be done automatically. Prior results cannot be more than 12 months old at the time of application.

RETIREES – Solano County invites all qualified candidates to apply for positions; however pursuant to Government Code Section 21221(h) and 21224, hiring restrictions may apply to California Public Sector Pension Plan Retirees.

Special Requirements

Applicants are required to demonstrate basic typing speed of 40 WPM by passing of a County approved test.

Veterans Preference Points

To be eligible, applicant must have served at least 181 consecutive days of active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States and have received either an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions. A COPY OF THE DD 214, SHOWING DISCHARGE TYPE (GENERALLY COPY 4), MUST BE RECEIVED IN THE HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT BY THE FINAL FILING DATE (or APPLICATION REVIEW DEADLINE). Applicants who have a service connected disability must also submit a recent award letter from the VA stating they are receiving disability benefits for service connected reasons.

Veteran applicants for initial County employment with an honorable or general under conditions discharge shall receive five (5) points added to their combined score. Disabled veterans rated at not less than 30% disability shall have ten (10) points added to their combined score. Veteran’s preference points will only be added to passing scores in competitive open examinations.

U.S. Equal Opportunity Employer. EOE/AA