City’s Bankruptcy Destroys Comm Center Staffing

Two years ago the Vallejo (N. Calif.) comm center has 27 dispatchers to staff three on-duty at all times to handle police, fire and EMS incidents and answer telephone calls. Now the center is down to 13 dispatchers, and is barely able to staff two dispatchers on-duty, and sometimes have to work 16-hour days to maintain that staffing level. The culprit is the city’s bankruptcy in 2008, which not only resulted in lay-offs throughout every city department, but also resignations by dispatchers who didn’t want—or couldn’t tolerate—the stress of the job. “We’re hoping people will stick it out,” says police support services director Bill Powell. He called the staffing situation “pretty serious,” and said officer and firefighter staffing has taken a similar hit. Read more this critical situation here.