University Gets Dispatch Training Grant

Ball State University (Ind.) has received a $2.5 million federal grant to develop a program over the next three years to develop an innovative training program to improve the communications skills of public safety dispatchers. According to a university press release, a five-person team will develop “a comprehensive program to broaden the scope of public communications training to improve awareness, performance, management and planning skills of essential communication personnel, including 911 dispatchers, on-scene incident commanders and public information officers.” The project director will be Thad Godish, a Ball State natural resources and environmental management professor. They will begin work by year’s end, and first create a communications DVD that will be distributed to about 3,000 comm centers offices for “independent study awareness training.” The course will include a 7 to 8-hour electronic independent study module to be used in conjunction with on-site, hands-on training activities utilizing tabletop exercises and other techniques. Read the full press release here.