Occupational Reclassification & Next Generation 9–1–1: Why “Clerical Workers” wont cut it in the PSAP of tomorrow
Disappointed.
That’s how many of us in the emergency communications profession felt late last year when the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its decision to reject a requested occupational classification change to “Protective Service” from the “Office and Administrative Support” classification most of our profession falls under today. Even with widespread efforts at the national level by APCO, NENA, and other entities to drum up support for the effort, including a petition to recognize 9–1–1 professionals as mission critical to public safety, the end result was a slamming of the door on the idea, courtesy of the federal government.
Before I get too much further into this story, I want everyone reading this to understand something. This is not a slam against the hundreds of thousands of Office and Administrative Support personnel doing excellent work on a daily basis across this great nation. In fact, I would argue many of the folks working in these roles would be some of the first to say their profession doesn’t carry the same stress load as that of a 9–1–1 professional, thus, they’d likely agree our profession shouldn’t be categorized in the same way.
Now some of the concerns relative to the failed reclassification effort are a bit more obvious then others. Compensation for example, in comparison to that of other public safety professions, is still struggling to find equilibrium. Retirement terms for most 9–1–1 professionals across the country remain at the 30 year mark (or worse), while others in the public sector enjoy 20 & 25 year retirements. And for those in the private sector who’ve silently (or openly) griped about public sector pensions and benefits, don’t worry, for most in the nation, the benefits associated with doing these jobs are getting less and less lucrative.
Administrators in the emergency communications workspace are already having a difficult time attracting and retaining great personnel. With an economy on the upswing, private sector opportunities with better salaries and benefits are on the rise, and in many cases, they offer the prospective employee a 40 hour a week job, Monday through Friday, with holidays and evenings off. Hard to convince those in our high stress, shift based, and mostly sedentary environment not to leave with options like that on the table. If any of your staff members are college educated, retaining these personnel in your PSAP is an even bigger challenge.
The role of the 9–1–1 professional may have had a “clerical” spin or been “administratively driven” many years ago, but it has grown exponentially more complicated and unique since that time. To say today’s telecommunicators have to multitask doesn’t do the position justice. On any given day, these professionals are listening, talking, typing, thinking, comparing, and considering their next five moves. It’s a lot like a chess match really. Anticipating what resources will be needed for the 9–1–1 caller they’re speaking with; what public safety entities will be needed for the response; the best route for the first responders to access the caller quickly, and what hospital is closest once the patient the caller was calling about is ready to be transported. And this is only one of hundreds of calls they’ll likely take during a given shift in today’s 9–1–1 Center, not the Next Generation 9–1–1 Center of tomorrow.
The data driven, feature rich, IP based, sensor connected Next Generation 9–1–1 Center of tomorrow will not only look dramatically different from today’s public safety answering point; it will most certainly require those sitting behind the console to be considerably more proficient in their respective roles and in a variety of different ways.
The arrival of Incident Related Imagery (IRI), in the form of still images, pre-recorded video, and streaming media, will likely be one of the first big changes our profession will have to deal with. Telecommunicators, previously limited by the audio portion of a telephone call when it came to determining what the problem was, suddenly have a variety of visual information sources to decipher and prioritize. Thousands of apps, all designed to interface with emergency communication centers across the country, will start sending data to the NextGenTelecommunicator, which in turn will require a familiarization of the most commonly used solutions, and an awareness of all others. Monitored medical data, delivered in real time to the NextGenPSAP, will require the NextGenTelecommunicator to be considerably more knowledgeable when it comes to emergency medicine, as medically implanted sensors, connected to the patient’s WiFi network or 5G wireless device, delivers vital signs and the medical history of an unconscious patient. Across town, law enforcement officials work an Active Shooter incident, as drone fed data feeds and visual communication links from within the premises arrive minute by minute at the communications center. Body worn sensors on the first responders at the scene of the event are monitored by the NextGenTelecommunicator, and the location of each individual working the incident is tracked as they make their way through the building. Stress levels, already elevated in today’s 9–1–1 Center, will be considerably higher for emergency communications personnel in tomorrow’s PSAP, as each professional is inundated with an array of digital information streams. Tomorrow’s 9–1–1 professional will have to be better at managing stress and thinking analytically. She/he will have to be technically proficient for the time period, be accepting of a constantly changing work environment, and be resilient in the face of visually horrific situations. These professionals will be connected to their positions, not just by a headset, but by all aspects of the technology driven world around them.
In the same way law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical professionals go through months and months of rigorous training before being allowed to go out on the road alone, tomorrow’s 9–1–1 professional will be forced to do the same. Recruit Training, which for some PSAP’s today may only take a few weeks, will no longer be possible. New staff members will have to be visually exposed to some form of graphic imagery during the training process if they are expected to be able to perform in these conditions during a real world situation. She/he will also have to learn how to actively deal with stress, and recognize signs of stress in others. Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) wont be enough in tomorrow’s PSAP when it comes to dealing with these situations. And while Text to 9–1–1 hasn’t taken off across the nation as quickly as some had initially suggested, you can bet when FirstNet and America’s wireless providers are ready to start delivering images to the PSAP, with the way people use cameras and social media on their smartphones today, your PSAP better be ready.
Take a look at the job postings for your PSAP. Is the only academic requirement for a prospective candidate a high school diploma or GED? Is that even a requirement? What previous lines of work are required before someone can apply for a dispatch position? Communications Center Leadership is going to have to become more selective when it comes to appointing personnel in the future. We cannot have a “body in the seat” attitude anymore when it comes to hiring for this profession. We’re going to have to up the ante, pay prospective candidates more, and provide better benefits, if we’re going to have any success whatsoever in preparing America’s 9–1–1 Center’s for the next step. The attitude, our attitude, has to change, and it has to change today.
DJD
