By Niki Cervantes
Staff Writer

July 13, 2015 -- Emergency training for Santa Monica’s public safety dispatchers could be  expanded to provide more efficient and faster service under a proposal that goes to the City Council Tuesday.

Now that police and fire dispatching services are consolidated, all dispatchers should be participating in the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) program, according to a staff report to the City Council.

“The purpose of participating in the POST program is to ensure that the City's level of professionalism, training, and recruitment procedures remains equal to those of other agencies throughout the State,” Herren said.

City dispatchers process an average of 325,000 incoming and outgoing telephone calls a year, including more than 70,000 9-1-1 calls annually, said Christopher Herren, administrator of the public safety communication’s division.

POST training sets minimum selection and training standards for California law enforcement staff, including public safety dispatchers, the report said.

The 120-hour basic dispatcher course required by POST will include much-needed training, including how to deal with calls on domestic abuse, child abuse, sexual assault and suicides, Herrin said.

“There’s a lot of impact,” he said.

Santa Monica has 18 dispatchers, although it just hired eight more and hopes to eventually reach full strength at 29, Herren said.

Eventually, all dispatchers will be cross-trained to answer both police and fire, as well as emergency medical service calls. That, he said, could save vital time when responding to 911 calls.

The City first adopted the POST ordinance in 1999, but it only applied to police dispatchers.

In January, police and fire dispatchers were consolidated under the Office of Emergency Management’s Public Safety Communications Division. As a result, the Council needs to adopt a new ordinance applying to fire dispatchers as well, repealing the previous, police dispatchers-only, version.

 “POST has set minimum selection standards for Public Safety Dispatchers that includes a requirement to conduct a pre-employment skills assessment test, interview, and background investigation, and a probationary period of no less than one year,” Herren said.

 POST also requires each dispatcher to complete at least 24 hours of certified training every two years.  Participation in the program allows the City to recover some of the costs involved in the training of dispatchers, he said.