911 operator: civilian ‘molded into a responder’

Natalie Rosslan, a communications officer, is seen Monday, July 11, 2022, at her dispatch terminal located in the lower level of the Jefferson City Police Department. (Julie Smith/News Tribune photo)
Natalie Rosslan, a communications officer, is seen Monday, July 11, 2022, at her dispatch terminal located in the lower level of the Jefferson City Police Department. (Julie Smith/News Tribune photo)

From the beginning, Ashley Schepers felt strongly about a service-oriented career.

Though she said, "it's kind of cheesy," she was geared toward helping others locally. Before joining the Jefferson City 911 Center, she pondered a job in nursing.

Yet, 16 years later, Schepers finds being "a cog in the machine" for emergency services rewarding, even as it involves highly-stressful situations.

"Another thing that's so rewarding: You don't understand emergency services, all the little details of it, until you are in it," Schepers said.

The Jefferson City Police Department is looking to hire six -- soon-to-be seven -- 911 communication operators. Public Information Officer Lt. David Williams said the department is authorized to staff 20 operators.

To incentivize recruitment, the department is offering a $5,000 sign-on bonus for communications candidates with prior experience or a $2,500 sign-on bonus for others without experience. At a public safety meeting May 26, officials voiced their struggles filling vacant operators positions, as well as 13 vacant officer positions. Chief Eric Wilde said recruitment would be a top priority as the freshly-hired leader.

"I'm going to be putting a lot of effort into that up front, because we've really got to fill up some positions and get people interested in the law enforcement profession again," Wilde said during an interview in June. "We've really seen applications go down every year for years."

The City Council has also recently discussed implementing a wage increase for city employees that includes a provision raising operators salaries' to a minimum of $40,000. However, the wage increase in its entirety was tabled at the July 5 meeting. It was an effort to incentivize hiring, as well as, stay competitive with other agencies.

Communication operators are the link between emergency personnel and emergency situations. In a timely and accurate manner and on a consistent basis, operators answer 911, public and administrative calls, dispatch personnel, and monitor and respond to emergency radios. If someone were to call the non-emergency phone line, it is also answered by an operator at the center after normal business hours.

"We don't have all the time in the world," Schepers said. "One of the most common phrases I hear all the time is, 'This is the non-emergency line, right?' Yes, that's true, but if I am processing your information and a 911 call comes in, I have to put you on hold."

The center supports the Jefferson City police and fire departments, Cole County Sheriff's office and four Cole fire districts and departments. They also communicate with Capitol Police and Highway State Patrol, among others.

In a job listing for the department, qualifications include having a high school diploma or an equivalent certification, ability to type 40 words per minute, clear speech and the ability to multitask. The starting salary is $37,800 annually, training involves a 20-week training program.

Schepers, who is also a training supervisor, said the training program can be intense.

"When we get new people in the door, a lot of times it can just feel very overwhelming. The training program is very vigorous and can be difficult," she said.

Schepers said operators don't always have the same visibility as other law enforcement personnel, whose roles may be topics of discourse in TV shows or movies. Candidates for operator positions, she said, aren't always aware of the rigor the job entails.

"We're taking people in a civilian role and placing them in a paramilitary environment with constant stress and constant emergencies," she said. "That's the biggest difference between patrol and communications, we're taking a civilian and molding them into a responder."

The onboarding process is tailored to be "front-loaded," Williams said. While police officers go to an academy and have six months of training prior to field work, communication operators train at the center.

He said: "They go through their hiring process, when it's absolutely certain that they're going to be an employee, they get everything in this environment."

Schepers said staff trains on "every kind of call" to become prepared for all scenarios when someone rings 911.

"The main thing is that we're getting the five Ws and the six, which are weapons," said Schepers, explaining how to obtain key descriptors during a call, which include: Who, What, When, Where, Why and lastly, if weapons are present at the scene. "You can kind of make that fit into any sort of situation."

She continued: "There's still going to be something that comes in that's not going to fit that mold ... And that's why it's really important for a telecommunicator to have the ability to adapt to situations and think on our feet."

A challenge regarding the work can be people who demand services of the operators that are out of their control.

"The most challenging thing is people who call and scream at us, they're mad because they got put on hold, so they hang up and they call back again and that does not fix the issue," she said.

Schepers asked the public to have more patience and understand operators are constantly multi-tasking especially during a complicated situation where time is important.

Because of her job, Schepers has acquired lifelong skills.

"Nothing is an emergency now outside of work," she said, joking. "It's true everybody else will be excited about something, and I'm like, 'Let's break this down into steps.'"