Public Safety Telecommunicator

Summary: Under supervision, performs a variety of routine and complex public safety communication tasks for the City of Beverly Public Safety Dispatch Center (BDC). The Public Safety Telecommunicator plays a critical role in emergency response. The Public SafetyTelecommunicator is responsible for responding to emergency and non- emergency calls and providing critical, life-saving assistance to citizens requesting police or fire, and to the response units dispatched to handle the response. Through professional information gathering, determines the nature of the call, whether a response is necessary and what type of assistance or information is needed. For calls requiring fire, medical or police response, professionally dispatches the appropriate agency to the scene, maintaining proper computer records of all units dispatched. Position Overview: This position is an essential personnel position that requires working a variety of situations including during holidays, weekends, day/evening/night shifts, and during a state of emergency. This position supports 24/7, 365-day operations. Employees must be able to work all shifts and have the flexibility to alter schedules based on departmental and operational needs. Employees are required to be physically present within the dispatch center or directly on scene covering a major incident to perform their duties. Essential Duties and Responsibilities: The essential functions or duties listed below are intended only as illustration of the various types of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to the position. ~Receive, screen and prioritize emergency 911, non-emergency, and TTY telephone calls for service requiring law enforcement, emergency medical services, and/or fire department attention. Monitor activities of, or stays in contact with the caller throughout the emergency, and provide pre-arrival medical instructions to the caller while waiting for units to arrive. Refers non-emergency calls to appropriate personnel. ~Operate a multi-frequency radio system to monitor, direct and participate in emergency and non-emergency dispatching utilizing call prioritization, caller/incident location identification, and intra-departmental response following the Dispatch center's policies and procedures to minimize potential dangers to the community and first responders. Maintain status and location control of all public safety personnel involved in department activities. ~Possess a thorough understanding to effectively enter calls for service information into a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system accurately and rapidly. Must condense large amounts of information into readable, typed remarks in a timely manner and have the ability to recall numerous acronyms and codes essential to appropriate call processing. Possess the ability to process CAD system queries and identify alert information. ~Maintain Criminal Justice Information System certification as a full access terminal/teletype operator for use with state or national crime reporting systems, to query and enter information (i.e. stolen vehicles, warrants, missing persons, state driver's records, vehicle registrations and criminal history inquiries) for the appropriate public safety agencies. Certification must be attained within six months of hire into the position. ~Possess a thorough understanding of the addresses and geography of the City of Beverly. Possess the ability to interpret maps of Beverly and surrounding service area using computerized mapping software and map books. Possess an understanding and effectively use the Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) system to determine location of units. ~Monitor and activate the Dispatch Center's procedures for civil emergencies, disasters (i.e. hazardous materials) and inclement weather via sirens, pagers, te etype, telephone and radio.