By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
The state will now offer training for 911 dispatchers, and Tabby Hughes, director of Jacksonville’s 911 center, is pleased.
A new law, which was signed last week by Gov. Beebe, will offer a standardized program at the Law Enforcement Training Academy in East Camden. The training isn’t mandatory, but Hughes and others hope it will be one day soon.
“I’m real excited about this,” said Hughes, who has pushed for it over the past few years.
“It’s important for the officers and citizens that our dispatchers are trained properly and for all possible situations,” she said.
In Jacksonville, Hughes’ dispatchers go through three months training process that includes CPR training and emergency medical dispatching procedures. “Not all dispatchers in the state or area are trained in EMD procedures,” explained Hughes, “but are dispatchers handle both police and medical calls, so they need the added training.”
Hughes, who is a 14-year veteran, said being a dispatcher is a constant learning process. “You are learning every day and every week and just when you think you’ve seen it all, something new and different jumps out.”
The state program will cost about $120,000 a year which will include salary for instructors and supplies. The funding will come from the 65-cent fee that all cell phone users are charged for 911 services.
Gary Gray, deputy coordinator and operations manager for North Little Rock Emergency Services has been one of the key players pushing for the training. Gray said there would be three courses offered in the program, one focusing on police dispatching, one on fire dispatching and one for medical calls and emergencies.
Each dispatcher-in-training will receive a certificate after passing the course, and there will be a mechanism in place for those you fail, to retrain and take the end-of-course test again.
Gray said the training program is to prevent problems, plus give state residents the securing in knowing that when they call 911, that call is being answered by a trained professional.
