Dispatcher I- One year fulltime clerical experience involving heavy public contact while performing multiple tasks.

Dispatcher II- Two years fulltime experience as a Police Dispatcher with a law enforcement agency equivalent to the City of Brentwood Police Department's Dispatcher II requirements.

After the application is received and accepted, the applicant will be invited to take a practical skill test. If the applicant successfully passes the test, they may be invited for an interview with a panel of current dispatch staff. If they are successful in the interview, the next steps include an interview with the Brentwood PD Captains, a polygraph, background investigation, Chief's Interview and psychological and medical evaluation.

Candidates that complete the hiring process will receive on-the-job training. The training process can last up to one year, during which the trainee will be on probation. The training and/or probation period may be extended in certain cases. The trainee will be assigned to various training officers and will adjust their schedules to mirror the training officers. The trainee can expect to receive regular correction/critique and a daily written evaluation. Within the first year of employment they will also be sent to a POST certified academy for basic dispatch training.

The dispatch center can become noisy and distracting when the workload is busy. There will also be periods where there is little to no activity. Dispatchers can walk around but are expected to be at their workstations for the majority of their shift to prepare to receive phone calls and radio traffic. They are not allowed to leave their positions before they are relieved by the oncoming shift. Planned absences need to be pre-approved by a supervisor.

Yes, weekend/holiday/shift work and overtime is required for 24/7 operations. The dispatchers work 3-12 hour shifts one week, and 4-12 hours shifts the following week, with the 4th day being Wednesday. This means there are 4 hours of OT built in to the Wednesday shift. Dispatchers work either Sun-Tue (and every other Wednesday), or Thu-Sat (and every other Wednesday). Typically, the hours are 6am-6pm, 6pm-6am, and 2pm-2am. The hours and schedule are subject to change to address the needs of the center. There will be mandatory (required) overtime assignments as well as optional (discretionary) overtime options. Some mandatory overtime will fall on regularly scheduled days off.

Shifts and vacation weeks are chosen by seniority. The shifts change every 4 months, but the bid is completed for an entire year. Those lower in seniority are less likely to bid a desired shift or vacation week until they gain more seniority.

Yes, there is a required uniform that is to be worn unless other instruction is given from a supervisor or lieutenant.

• Composure: Police dispatchers need to control their emotions in order to deliver clear instructions to callers. This will help determine the best course of action. Keeping calm also helps when dealing with mentally or emotionally unstable callers.
• Empathy: Most situations that police dispatcher face is speaking with callers in stressful situations. Besides needing to keep their composure to work efficiently, dispatchers also require the ability to understand others’ emotions and a desire to help those in need.
• Communication skills: A lot of times Police dispatchers need to explain various details and procedures to both victims and police officers in short amounts of time. Police dispatchers need to possess the communication skills required to clearly transmit messages in a prompt manner.
• Decision-making: Police dispatchers often face situations in which they must choose between alternatives. They must be able to quickly process all available information and offer the best solution to both victims and police officers.
• Organizational skills: Dispatchers need to listens to available information and organize their thoughts in order to quickly and efficiently assess a situation. They need to keep all information organized for the proper response and for later reference if needed.

Answering emergency and non-emergency phone calls and determining the proper response or resource needed, prioritizing calls for service and dispatching officers to those calls, making entries into the DOJ database regarding stolen vehicles, missing persons, etc., warrant processing, carrying out requests from the field units, completing in-house training while managing dispatch duties, and other duties as assigned.