Emergency Dispatcher jobs in Bellingham, WA

About us

Skagit 911 answers, processes, and dispatches all 9-1-1 calls within Skagit County and parts of Whatcom County. Skagit 911 serves nine law enforcement agencies, four municipal fire agencies, seventeen fire districts, and one EMS agency. Skagit 911 utilizes and maintains several different technologies, such as a CAD (Computer Aided Dispatching) system, 911 phone system, multiple radio towers, and the core radio system for emergency responders in Skagit County.

Skagit 911 Dispatchers have three primary responsibilities and missions:

• Answer emergency calls from the public
• Dispatch emergency calls
• Monitor and assist public safety responders

Skagit 911 Dispatchers have three primary responsibilities and missions:

1) Answer emergency calls from the public
2) Dispatch emergency calls
3) Monitor and assist public safety responders

9-1-1 Call-Taking

Every Dispatcher at Skagit 911 is trained to answer and process all calls that come into our center. Most of these calls are law enforcement response calls, fewer are medical response calls, and the fewest are fire response calls. Most 9-1-1 calls are started the same way: “Where are you?” “What is going on?” “Are you injured?” No one call or caller is the exactly the same as the other, so Dispatchers need to think and act quickly. Most callers are experiencing the worst day of their lives and can be difficult to focus on answering key questions needed to get them the right help at the right place.

Emergency Dispatching

At the start of every shift, Skagit 911 Dispatchers are assigned to different public safety agencies. For example, one of these agencies is the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO). The Dispatcher assigned to SCSO will dispatch calls in their jurisdictions and monitor the deputies that are on duty. This is where true multitasking comes in. Skagit 911 Dispatchers are required answer 9-1-1 calls, dispatch priority incidents, and assist their assigned responders (deputies in this example). Sometimes this means listening to two people talk at once and being able to register what both people are saying.

Dispatcher's Schedule

Currently, Skagit 911 Dispatchers work 12-hour shifts in the following format:

• Week 1: Four days on, three days off
• Week 2: Three days on, four days off

Most “Day” shifts are 6am to 6pm and most “Grave” shifts are 6pm to 6am. Two hours each week are built-in overtime hours and are either cashed out at 1.5 times the hourly rate or converted to time off at the 1.5 rate (this is the employee’s choice). There are currently no part-time positions. Skagit 911 is only hiring full-time employees in the year 2023 and 2024. Due to the critical nature of this work, employees are expected to be at work and ready to answer 9-1-1 calls at the start of their shift.

Personal Time Off

Skagit 911 Dispatchers earn a certain amount of vacation every two weeks of work based on their time (years of services) at Skagit 911. New employees start with 88 hours of vacation to use annually. This amount goes up every three years until they reach 18 years at Skagit 911. Employees that have 18 years of service earn 208 hours of vacation annually.

Since Skagit 911 Dispatchers are required to work holidays, all employees are credited 8 hours of time off to use at any point of the year. Holiday time is earned in the pay period (pay periods are every two weeks) the holiday falls in. Skagit 911 Dispatchers earn 4 hours of sick leave every pay period (8 hours every month). Sick leave carries over each year.

Training

Skagit 911 hires in groups of one to four. Training is full-time, paid, with benefits. First day starts in Skagit 911’s academy. The academy is an in-house training program that works with new Dispatch Trainees to get them ready for their floor training. Dispatch Trainees learn about the following:

• Policies & Procedures
• CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch)
• Geography of Skagit County
• Non-Emergency Call-Taking
• Emergency Call-Taking

Floor training begins after passing the academy’s “Call-Take Final”. Trainees are assigned a Trainer that best matches the Trainee’s learning style. Trainees still work a 4-10 schedule but match up with the days their Trainer works. While working with a Trainer on the Dispatch Floor, Trainees take real, live 9-1-1 and non-emergency calls. At the beginning of this process, Trainers will coach their Trainees on what to say or do. As training progresses, the Trainer will move toward silently monitoring the Trainee until they can recommend being signed off on call-take training. On average, Trainees will spend around 240 hours on call-taking training. This process repeats for radio training. This also take around 240 hours of radio training.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: From $25.92 per hour

Expected hours: 36 – 48 per week

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• 12 hour shift
• Day shift
• Evening shift
• Holidays
• Night shift
• Overtime

Supplemental pay types:

• Bonus opportunities

Work Location: In person