Security Dispatcher

Central Piedmont Community College; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 42,000 - 64,000; Full time

Job summary

Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, NC seeks a Security Dispatcher to serve as the primary communication link for campus safety, dispatch officers, and coordinate emergency responses.

The role requires calm under pressure, strong attention to detail, ability to prioritize, and availability for holidays and some nights/weekends. You will operate CAD, radio, video management, and access-control systems to maintain accurate records and ensure rapid responses.

Qualifications

• High School Diploma or GED required, related postsecondary education may substitute.
• Experience in public safety dispatch or security communications preferred.
• Proficiency with public safety radio, telephone, CAD, and related systems is required.

Responsibilities

• Receives and processes emergency and non-emergency calls and dispatches security personnel.
• Operates CAD, radio, phone, video management, and access-control systems; maintains accurate records.
• Maintains situational awareness and coordinates with external agencies as needed.
• Monitors and documents incidents, ensuring confidentiality and adherence to procedures.
• Performs required documentation and ensures proper records retention and security of sensitive information.

Skills

Public safety dispatch

Calm under pressure

Prioritization

Education

High School Diploma or GED

Tools

CAD/Incident-management

Radio systems

Video management

Access-control systems

Alarm monitoring

Job description

The Security Dispatcher plays a vital role in supporting campus safety and security by serving as the primary communication link between campus security personnel, emergency responders, and the college community. This position is responsible for monitoring communications, receiving and responding to calls for assistance, dispatching security officers to incidents, and coordinating responses to emergency and non-emergency situations. The ideal candidate is dependable, detail-oriented, and able to remain calm under pressure while communicating effectively and prioritizing multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment. This position may require working on holidays and occasional nights and weekends to support campus safety and operational needs.

The Dispatch Center is not a Primary or Secondary Public Safety Answering Point and coordinates requests for municipal police, fire, emergency medical services, and 911 assistance through the appropriate jurisdictional agency. Work requires sound judgment, sustained attention, confidentiality, accurate documentation, clear communication, and consistent compliance with college procedures and applicable requirements governing criminal justice information, records, privacy, confidentiality, and information security.

Applicants are encouraged to apply promptly, as this posting may be taken down before the listed closing date once adequate candidate interest has been reached.

1. Receives and processes emergency and non-emergency calls, radio traffic, alarms, emergency phone activations, and other service requests; obtains, prioritizes, and documents essential incident information, hazards, locations, involved persons, and resource needs.
2. Applies established procedures to prioritize incidents and determine appropriate responses, including dispatching College Police, security personnel, and other authorized resources; coordinating referrals, transfers, or requests for assistance from 911, municipal police, fire, emergency medical services, and other external agencies; and notifying supervisors or command staff of significant, unusual, or high-risk events.
3. Operates radio, telephone, computer-aided dispatch, incident-management, call-recording, video management, access-control, alarm-monitoring, mapping, mass-notification, and related communications systems; maintains unit status and location information; conducts required welfare checks; and promptly reports emergency activations, missed status checks, technology failures, or loss of contact with personnel.
4. Maintains situational awareness of active incidents, campus conditions, competing service demands, and operational priorities; controls priority radio traffic within assigned authority; relays critical information to responders; and completes required notifications, escalations, and documentation.
5. Creates and maintains complete, accurate, real-time, and time-stamped records of calls for service, incidents, unit activity, alarm activations, notifications, significant communications, transfers, actions taken, and dispositions in approved College systems.
6. Monitors campus activity through authorized security technologies; conducts approved incident-related searches; preserves audio, video, communications, and access-control records; and documents evidentiary exports, transfers, and chain-of-custody activities in accordance with established procedures.
7. Conducts assigned operational checks of communications and security systems; documents outages or degraded performance; initiates approved continuity, backup, or alternate-location procedures; and reports technical issues in accordance with established processes. Information Technology Services retains responsibility for technical infrastructure, maintenance, and lifecycle management.
8. Supports emergency operations, critical incidents, severe weather events, major campus activities, continuity-of-operations events, and Emergency Operations Center activations by performing assigned communications, notification, documentation, relocation, and backup functions.
9. Prepares, transmits, or relays authorized emergency notifications, safety messages, and operational communications through designated College systems and documents authorizations, message content, transmission times, and system status.
10. Maintains dispatch, incident, recording, and operational records in accordance with applicable retention, public records, privacy, confidentiality, legal-hold, and information-security requirements.
11. When assigned DCIN/NCIC access, complies with all applicable certification, security, authorized-use, dissemination, inquiry, documentation, hit-confirmation, logging, and criminal justice information requirements and promptly reports suspected misuse, policy violations, or security concerns.
12. Protects confidential, restricted, personally identifiable, educational, criminal justice, law enforcement-sensitive, and security-related information; accesses and disseminates information only for authorized purposes; and refers official records requests to the designated records custodian.
13. Performs authorized administrative and operational support functions, including access control, credentialing, scheduling, inventory, system data management, and property-support activities, as workload and operational priorities permit.
14. Participates in required training, exercises, drills, testing, quality assurance reviews, competency assessments, continuing education, certifications, and access authorization programs and maintains qualifications required for assigned duties.

• High School Diploma or GED and three years of progressively responsible experience in public safety dispatch, law enforcement communications, campus security communications, emergency communications, security operations, alarm or security monitoring, or a closely related field.
• Related postsecondary education or training may substitute for a portion of the experience requirement as determined by the College.
• Demonstrated experience or proficiency in public safety radio, telephone, computer-aided dispatch or incident-management, call-recording, alarm-monitoring, video, access-control, and related communications systems is required.
• An equivalent combination of education and directly related experience may be considered.
• Must pass a pre-employment criminal background check and satisfy any additional screening or access requirements associated with assigned public safety systems and criminal justice information.
• Must obtain and maintain the level of DCIN/NCIC certification, system-access authorization, and CJIS security-awareness training required for assigned duties within the timeframe established by the College and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
• Must obtain and maintain College-required dispatcher competencies and any role-specific certifications, access authorizations, security-awareness training, and continuing education applicable to assigned duties.
• The College may also require completion of an approved public safety telecommunicator or emergency communications training program, accessible-communications training, applicable FEMA Incident Command System courses, and College-specific qualification on assigned communications and security technologies.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Worker Characteristics:

• Knowledge of public safety call prioritization, resource assignment, radio procedures and terminology, unit-status monitoring, incident documentation, and the operational boundaries of a non-PSAP communications center

• Working knowledge of computer-aided dispatch or incident-management systems, land mobile radio, telephone, call-recording, alarm-monitoring, video management, access-control, mapping, and mass-notification technologies
• Ability to obtain accurate information through structured questioning, active listening, and calm, concise communication and to recognize incidents requiring immediate transfer or referral to 911
• Ability to simultaneously monitor telephone, radio, video, alarm, access-control, incident information, system alerts, personnel activity, and changing operational priorities while accurately entering and retrieving information
• Knowledge of critical-incident communications, emergency notification and escalation protocols, Incident Command System principles, continuity procedures, and manual backup operations
• Knowledge of criminal justice information security, confidentiality, records retention, public-records obligations, and the appropriate handling of sensitive operational information
• Ability to exercise sound judgment, prioritize competing demands, recognize incomplete or conflicting information, follow supervisory direction, and make timely decisions within established procedures during high‑pressure or rapidly changing situations
• Ability to read and interpret campus maps, building and room identifiers, access points, response zones, and jurisdictional boundaries
• Ability to recognize technology outages or degraded capabilities, initiate approved continuity procedures, perform manual backup operations, and accurately report technical issues
• Ability to communicate clearly and professionally with callers, dispatch personnel, police and security responders, supervisors, College leaders, external agencies, contractors, vendors, and Information Technology Services
• Ability to communicate effectively with callers who have varied communication needs and to appropriately use available relay, interpretation, and accessible-communications resources
• Ability to remain composed, attentive, courteous, accurate, and confidential during rapidly changing, high-consequence, or emotionally charged incidents
• Ability to follow written directives, accept coaching and corrective instruction, work effectively as part of a continuously operating team, and complete required training, quality‑assurance reviews, and competency validations

Working Conditions:

• Work is performed in a continuously operating public safety communications and security operations environment with frequent use of computers, telephones, radios, dispatch or incident‑management applications, call‑recording systems, alarm and video platforms, access‑control systems, and related technology.

• The role requires sustained attention to simultaneous communications, incident information, system alerts, personnel activity, and changing operational priorities and may involve exposure to urgent, sensitive, or distressing information.

• Work may involve extended periods of sitting, computer‑based monitoring, radio and telephone communication, continuous listening through speakers or headsets, and repetitive keyboard and mouse use.

• The work schedule is established based on operational and staffing needs and may require rotating shifts, nights, weekends, holidays, overtime, schedule changes, reporting to an emergency operations center or alternate communications location, and extended hours during emergencies, major events, technology outages, staffing shortages, or other periods of increased operational need.

• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals to perform the essential functions of the position.