Arguably the most severe challenge impacting emergency communications centers (ECCs) today concerns a nationwide personnel shortage that has reached a crisis stage. Numerous factors
Emergency communications centers (ECCs) — also known as public-safety answering points (PSAPs) —handle an enormous volume of 911 calls, about 240 million annually nationwide. This figure is expected to rise significantly over the next few years, driven by smartphones, alarm systems, and internet of things (IoT) devices (e.g., wearable medical monitors).
As call volumes rise, telecommunicators who already are short/understaffed, undertrained, and under siege in many ECCs will be subject to even greater pressures as they work to send the correct response in the shortest amount of time. Fortunately, ways exist to relieve these pressures, and many agencies are exploring how they can strengthen and diversify how they respond to calls for service, both 911 and non-emergency.
The State of Florida recently enacted legislation that has considerable implications for public safety agencies. The law was introduced after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, an organization formed to analyze the 2018 events of the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting, highlighted several opportunities to improve public safety communications within the state.
In our first webinar event of 2019, our subject-matter experts discussed the trends to watch in the coming year and at the top of that list was the challenge agencies and leadership face when staffing public safety answering points (PSAPs). Today, nearly three-quarters of the way through the year, staffing remains one of the top two things that keeps PSAP managers up at night. If you ask a group of PSAP leaders what word comes to mind when they think of staffing, most of them aren’t going to say “good.” Instead, you’ll hear things like “tired,” “revolving door,” “challenging,” and “stressful.”
Topics: Workforce Optimization
It has never been more challenging to be a PSAP official.
Longer-term considerations include implementing Next Generation 911 (NG911) technology and integrating the nationwide public safety broadband network (NPSBN)—being built under the auspices of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet)—into the 911 center’s operations. These are no small tasks.
The one short-term topic that is on everyone’s mind is staffing. It is not something merely to consider—it is the thing under the bed, the thing that keeps you awake—night after night after night. Right now, the 911 community is dealing with an acute 911 staffing shortage. In many cases PSAPs are struggling to keep up with the volume of emergency calls they receive, Obviously, this is placing lives at greater risk, which is a very big problem.
Topics: Operations, Staffing
Ten years ago this month, the United States Congress recognized April as “National 911 Education Month”, and ever since the 911 community has organized dedicated events throughout their communities to support public education about this vital, life-saving service. This month also is a fitting time to look inward and focus attention on how much emphasis is placed on education within our own organizations, whether it be a 911 center or a company like ours.
At MCP, we view professional development and mentoring as an integral part of our culture. Not only does it help our staff members cultivate their knowledge and remain current on technological and operational developments, it also plays an important role in employee retention. Every year, we invest more than a million dollars in development and training because we recognize that not investing in our staff could negatively impact how we serve our clients.
For our clients, and public safety professionals in general, the same holds true. Invest in yourself and / or your agency and you will reap the rewards.
Professional development and mentoring in emergency communications has never been as important as it is today for two reasons.
Topics: Operations, Staffing, On-Demand Webinars
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