Statewide committee calls for dispatcher certification
An emergency communications committee is currently drafting a bill that would establish statewide training and certification requirements for police dispatchers in Idaho, which currently has zero requirements.
As it is now, individual police stations decide how to train their dispatchers. This means any dispatcher could have anywhere from several weeks to several months worth of training.
The Public Safety Answering Point Standards and Training Committee is made up of several police dispatch supervisors. Although the exact requirements haven’t been made yet, the committee plans to have all dispatchers go through specialized training to attain certification and have ongoing training to maintain it.
Erin Hidalgo, the committee’s vice chairman and 911 supervisor for Bingham County Sheriff’s Department, said these requirements make sense.
“Almost every field has required certification from nail tech to hairdressing,” she said. “It just doesn’t make any sense that (dispatchers) aren’t required currently.”
Pocatello resident Joel Padilla called dispatch services last summer when his drunk neighbor was harassing his wife and two daughters. He described his call with dispatch as, “respectful, cordial and responsive,” and they got authorities to his apartment quickly to handle the situation.
“They really care about their citizens and you can tell when you do call,” he said.
Even though Padilla was happy with his experience with dispatch, he agrees that having training and certification requirements is necessary.
“Let’s say something happened to me and my kids needed to call the dispatcher and relay information toward them. I would like the dispatcher on the end to be not only certified but to walk my daughters through an emergency situation and to helpfully get them safely sound,” he said.
The Pocatello and Chubbuck police departments, as well as the Bannock County Sheriff’s Department, all sent their dispatchers to training academies for training. Training at a dispatch academy includes call taking, stress management and how to handle various emergencies.
