Dispatcher

City of Northampton•Northampton, MA

14h•Onsite

About The Position

Position is responsible for answering calls, reporting emergency and non-emergency incidents, dispatching personnel to respond, performing clerical, administrative, and technical work, and assisting in the administration of the standard operating procedures of the Communications Center in providing around the clock police, fire, and emergency medical services.

Requirements

High School degree or equivalent
One to two years of word processing and customer service skills experience in a fast-paced office or customer service environment, or any equivalent combination of education and experience, required.
Required to submit to and successfully pass Massachusetts criminal record check.
Knowledge of Communication Center’s jurisdictional authority relative to all agencies; knowledge of the City’s streets and neighborhoods; knowledge of surrounding communities.
Knowledge of Communication Center’s policies and procedures; knowledge of applicable police and fire policies and procedures; knowledge of operation of various computer databases.
Ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time; ability to attend to a number of details occurring simultaneously in an accurate manner; ability to prioritize; ability to work as part of a team as well as independently.
Ability to think clearly and effectively and handle occasional high levels of stress.
Ability to obtain and interpret information during high stress situations or when communicating with highly emotional people and then formulate/condense and relay information concisely and correctly free of emotion or opinion.
Skilled in interacting with general public in a calm and appropriate manner; skilled in eliciting needed information from an individual who may be a child, injured, in need of emergency service personnel and/or in a highly agitated frame of mind; skilled in providing clear directions over the telephone or the radio.

Nice To Haves

Provides Quality Assurance and peer review when volunteered, trained and assigned by the supervisor

Responsibilities

Answers emergency and non-emergency radio and telephone transmissions in the Communications Center; ascertains nature of calls, gathers all necessary information to transmit or relay, and prioritizes calls based upon their nature and time factors.
Dispatches and manages the deployment of police, fire and emergency medical personnel and response vehicles for emergency and non-emergency incidents; broadcasts nature, location and time of incident; contacts all required personnel; ensures the presence of additional personnel by contacting those designated for call-back; contacts and coordinates Mutual Aid response, relays information and supplemental information as needed.
Provides emergency medical instructions to callers by phone; provides pertinent information to responding units by phone and/or radio; coordinates first responder, ambulance and Advanced Life Support responses.
Monitors alarm systems; keeps accurate information; dispatches units when necessary; notifies personnel when alarms are out of service; assists in testing and maintaining alarms as needed; interprets signals and determines if contact needs to be made to responsible parties and/or subscribers.
Maintains radio and telephone communications log; documents the location, safety, and status of personnel and equipment; researches call or person’s history in internal computer system, determines relevancy and relays significant history to field personnel; maintains ongoing contact with the responding personnel and keeps them informed of all pertinent information; keeps track of significant information, e.g., broken traffic signals, closed streets, etc., and keeps emergency personnel informed.
Utilizes radios to monitor and communicate with field personnel; operates office equipment and pages personnel as required.
Interfaces with Fire Districts, Mutual Aid assignments and Massachusetts State Mobilization Plan.
Enters and retrieves variety of data and extracts required data from computer and other information systems; maintains reports and records as required or requested.
Inputs data into forms and reports both manually and digitally; compiles and tabulates data; completes reports to extent possible.
Broadcasts pertinent weather bulletins, civil defense bulletins, announcements, criminal activity bulletins and any other information as directed by the supervisors and/or police and fire personnel.
Attends State and City mandated job-related training; acquires and maintains mandatory certifications required for the position by the State 911 Board and/or requested by supervisors, e.g., Enhanced 911, First Responder/CPR, Emergency Medical Dispatch, etc.
Attends at least 16 hours of yearly continuing education.
Trains, assists in training and mentors new dispatchers.
Assists in keeping site information up to date in the internal database.
Provides Quality Assurance and peer review when volunteered, trained and assigned by the supervisor
Performs similar or related work as required.