California Dispatcher Skills Survey
In 1991 the California Commission on Police Officer Standards & Training (POST) performed a comprehensive survey of dispatchers to determine the essential knowledge, skills, abilities and traits of a successful dispatcher. After compiling the results and analyzing the information, POST created a test that was carefully designed to measure all of the job-related areas identified in the survey. The hope was that a person passing the test would have a high probability of becoming a successful dispatcher.
The survey identified 132 knowledge items as essential for successful performance of dispatcher duties and appropriate for entry-level dispatcher training. The knowledge is included in the following areas:
- Work Environment and Conduct
- Communication Center Operations
- Legal Principles and Codes
- Complaint Taking
- Dissemination of Information
- Radio Dispatching
- Law Enforcement Information Systems
- Public Safety Related Agencies
- Communication Center Equipment and Resources
- Training Methods
The survey indicated that the knowledge most critical for successful dispatcher performance are:
- Complaint/request priorities
- potentially dangerous situations
- important and appropriate complaint information to be obtained
- questioning techniques
- communications with mentally unstable callers
- considerations for broadcasting sensitive information
The survey identified 63 skills as essential to success, covering the following areas:
- Vocal Skills
- Listening Skills
- Reading Skills
- Record Keeping Skills
- Complaint Taking Skills
- Dispatching Skills
- Telecommunications Skills
- Interpersonal Skills
- Administrative Skills
The skills rated most critical were those where the dispatcher must handle simultaneous incidents and radio traffic.
The survey identified 22 abilities as essential to successful dispatcher performance. Those abilities fell in the areas of:
- Cognitive abilities (Verbal, Reasoning, Memory, Perceptual)
- Psycho-motor abilities (Manual Dexterity and Speed)
- Sensory-motor (Speech, Hearing, Vision)
The highest-rated abilities were:
- verbal and perceptual cognitive abilities
- speech and Hearing sensory-motor abilities
- oral and Comprehension
- expression abilities
- written Comprehension
- speech Clarity
- speech Hearing
- general Hearing
- auditory Attention
- time Sharing
The survey identified 14 traits as importance to being a successful dispatcher. Among the areas rated highest were:
- tolerance of Stress -- performs job duties effectively under adverse conditions (e.g. working under time pressure with high visibility and serious consequences of error, in crisis situations, tragedies, and emergencies, handling simultaneous incidents, and working with frequent interruption). The dispatcher bounces back from negative situations performs duties under extreme pressure without delay.
- integrity
- dependability
- emotional Control
- tolerance of Unpleasant Work Environment
- adaptability
- Teamwork
- maturity
- productivity
- positive Attitude
- assertiveness
- social Concern
- motivation
- interpersonal Sensitivity
