911 operators

Though emergency dispatch is something every county in Iowa has, there is not a uniform way of structuring it.

In some counties, the dispatchers report to the sheriff's office, like they do in Henry County. In others, they report to a communications board, like in Washington County. Still others report to a city police chief, like in Jefferson County, where the dispatchers are employees of the city of Fairfield.

Fairfield Police Chief David Thomas has announced that he wants to explore changing the dispatch command structure so that it reports to an independent communications board and where the dispatchers are no longer city employees.

Thomas said counties such as Des Moines County (Burlington) have made this transition, and he wants to see if it would work for Jefferson County, too.

There are a few reasons Thomas wants to investigate this idea. One of which is that he feels it would result in more equitable taxes between city and county residents.

Under the current arrangement, the city is responsible for paying for dispatch personnel. Under an independent communications board, taxes would be drawn from the respective governmental bodies based on their population.

'Fairfield would still pay more than 50 percent of budget, just not 100 percent of the personnel budget as it is now,” Thomas said.

Under Jefferson County's current setup, dispatchers report to a communications supervisor, who reports to the chief of police. Any complaints about dispatch end up on the chief of police's desk.

In practice, Thomas has the communications supervisor investigate these and report back to him, because that person directly oversees the day-to-day operations of the dispatch center.

Under the setup being proposed, complaints would go to the communications supervisor, and then appeals would go to the proposed communications commission. Though its structure has not been fully fleshed out, it would likely follow the model of other communication boards by including members of the city council, county board of supervisors, and other members of the public.

Thomas clarified that the 'complaints” he's referring to aren't complaints from the general public about the dispatchers' performance. More often, it's about how various first responders are called.

He said fire departments and quick responders in the county differ in who they want to be dispatched for various locations. Sometimes they request a change to the boundaries they're responsible for.

'When you're dispatching so many agencies, it gets quite hectic, and it generates a few more issues,” Thomas said.

So far, the discussion about restructuring the dispatch chain of command is in the preliminary stages. Jefferson County's 911 services board has not taken up a formal proposal.

Shannon Pester, the Jefferson County Law Center's communications supervisor, said she likes Thomas's idea, and thinks it will be good for the dispatch center in the long run.

'It would allow Chief Thomas to focus on the police,” she said.

Pester added that, even though the dispatchers are city employees, the sheriff's office pays for the dispatchers' equipment.

Washington County Sheriff Jared Schneider said that Washington County handles its dispatchers' pay, though they are under the communications commission. They're not technically employees of the sheriff's office.

Washington County's communications commission is made up of representatives from the county board of supervisors, Washington city council, and the smaller towns in the county.

Cara Sorrells is Washington County's 911 supervisor, which means she is in charge of the dispatch center's day-to-day operations. Personnel matters fall under the sheriff's purview. Schneider said he and Sorrells meet frequently to discuss matters pertaining to the dispatch center and to schedule interviews for new dispatchers.

Schneider said Washington County's system of managing dispatch has worked well, and that it's been in place for many years. For the past four years, the communications commission has been focused on building a new dispatch center and countywide radio system.

'All of those people on the commission are working together to make decisions about how emergency response is going to be run,” he said.

Washington County has three distinct but similar boards that all deal with responding to emergencies: the emergency management commission, communication commission and 911 services board. Because their missions have much overlap, the three boards meet on the same night at the same place. This allows the board members to know what the other boards and doing, and it's helpful because members of one board serve on another.

In Henry County, Sheriff Rich McNamee oversees the dispatchers, where they are county employees. McNamee said it's been that way ever since he started in law enforcement 27 years ago.

'It works well for us,” McNamee said. 'Over the years, there has been talk to switching it to a separate entity or board, but we haven't taken any steps toward that. I don't foresee it in the immediate future.”

During the first year of McNamee's tenure as sheriff (he's now in his eighth year), a few sheriffs from neighboring counties approached him about the prospect of merging their dispatch centers. McNamee was not high on the idea because he didn't want his dispatchers to lose the personal touch and knowledge they have with Henry County residents and first responders.

'It's nice for our dispatchers to know their officers, ambulance drivers and firemen personally,” McNamee said.

Though dispatchers are managed in different ways across the state, they're all facing the same issues. Pester said the profession has a high burnout rate, and that the average length of employment for a dispatcher is two years. She said that only a small percentage of the population can do what dispatchers do on a daily basis.

'Even though we try not to take stuff home with us, it's hard,” she said. 'There's a lot of stress in this job.”

Jefferson County dispatcher and assistant communications supervisor Kaitlin Settles added that dispatchers don't have a chance to 'decompress” after a stressful event. They have to move on and be ready for the next call.

'That can be hard,” she said.

McNamee said that dispatchers also have to 'multitask like no other.”

'We have a family relationship between our officers and the dispatchers,” he said. 'When a couple of deputies and city police are on a critical incident, our dispatchers are trying to make sure they have extra resources so they can come home safely,” McNamee said. 'Imagine having to wait for a family member in a critical spot, and the only thing you can do is wait for the next radio transmission. To me, that's the most frustrating thing, I imagine.”

McNamee said he can tell early on in a dispatcher's career whether they have what it takes to do the job. He said not everybody can answer the phone for hours on end, managing crisis situations, without much reprieve.

Henry County employs six full-time dispatchers, and a couple of part-timers as needed. Schneider said Washington County has nine right now, and is looking to hire another. Jefferson County has seven full-time dispatchers.

Schneider said that part of the high burnout rate comes from the difficult hours, since someone has to fill all 24 hours of the day, seven days a week. That means working a lot of nights, weekends and holidays.

'The new employees tend to work those evening and overnight hours, and that might not be the most appealing thing,” Schneider said. 'That's true not just for dispatchers, but for our deputies as well. That makes it difficult to attract applicants when we're looking for help.”