Daytona Beach, FL – The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office is looking to find a whole lot of public safety dispatchers as soon as possible.
The law enforcement agency rolled out a new recruitment campaign this week aimed at filling over 150 open positions at its 911 call center.
Volusia’s largest law enforcement agency handles all the 911 calls and police, fire and emergency medical dispatches for the entire county, regardless if it’s in a city or in the unincorporated areas.
“It’s a bustling center that processes approximately 1.1 million calls for service annually, including more than 300,000 911 calls,” said VCSO spokesman Gary Davidson. “Filling vacant positions by attracting applicants who are cut out for the work has been a challenge not just for [us] but for dispatch centers across the country.”
Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson – featured in the 30-second advertisement posted above this article – says this kind of work has a high turnover rate, which is why he felt it was time to try something new to find more qualified people.
“I’m convinced that the interest and talent and labor pool are out there,” Johnson added. “We just have to find new and creative ways to tap into it.”
That ad – which also features 3 current VCSO telecommunicators – will air over 300 times in the next 4 weeks on local cable networks, according to Johnson.
“Public safety dispatching is exciting work,” Johnson said. “It’s a good feeling knowing that you helped someone. But it’s also a very challenging and fast-paced job. Not everyone is cut out for this type of work.”
The $13,000 campaign – paid for with funds seized in criminal cases – will also use sponsored ads on Facebook and mail postcards to over 7,000 homes in certain neighborhoods.
“Our hope is that the campaign will catch people’s attention and get them thinking about a career in public safety dispatching,” Johnson stated.
Dispatchers are required to have a high school diploma or GED equivalent and be able to type 3,600 keystrokes per hour. They also have to pass a background check, medical exam and drug screening.
For more information, click here or call 386-736-5951.
Copyright 2016 Southern Stone Communications.