SPEAKING OF TRAINING

Question: Only in Comm:

1- How many (supervisors) do you have running your training department?

2 - Approximately how many positions (including vacancies) does your Comm Center have?

We have a training coordinator that oversees the hiring and firing process. But its the shift supervisors who over see the trainees. We have 3 shifts and 3 supervisors assigned to each shift. The trainers that the trainees are assigned to do the daily observation reports and the shift super does their weekly evals as well as writing their probationary evaluations after their 6 month training period is over. And this is just a guess but I would say we have at least 10 openings. But, we do have people that are in the background process that are potential employees. So its really hard to say officially how many openings we have. But like any other comm center we have a high turnover rate. So it could be more or could be less.

Thanks for your response, Tampa PD!

Can you tell me what your approximate minimum staffing level is per shift? Or how many personnel each supervisor has immediate responsibility over?

The minimum staffing for day shift is 20, Evening shift is 21 and mids is 17. Depending on what day of the week it is and what shift you are assigned to will deteremine how many people that the supervisors over see. So it could be up to 21 at any given point.

That's quite a bit of staffing per shift. Do you dispatch fire/rescue too?

No we only do Police Dispatching. Fire rescue is in the same bldg as we are but all our medical calls are transferred to them. Our call volume is much to high for us to be able to do both.

We have a training coordinator that oversees the hiring and firing process. But its the shift supervisors who over see the trainees. We have 3 shifts and 3 supervisors assigned to each shift. The trainers that the trainees are assigned to do the daily observation reports and the shift super does their weekly evals as well as writing their probationary evaluations after their 6 month training period is over. And this is just a guess but I would say we have at least 10 openings. But, we do have people that are in the background process that are potential employees. So its really hard to say officially how many openings we have. But like any other comm center we have a high turnover rate. So it could be more or could be less.

manatee is similar. there is a chief dispatcher that is in charge of training. there are 4 dispatch squads w/1 supervisor and 1 OIC per shift. i'm not 100% sure about the training paperwork, cause i dont train, but i think the training officers do the DOR's & the Supervisor does everything else. we have several openings too. the trainees can usually get thru the call taking training but no one can get thru our radio training and if you don't get thru any part of it, they will let you go. i think the last person that completely passed training was like a year ago.

I appreciate all your responses!

For comparison's sake, we have 3 shifts, we're at "bare bone" minimum staffing due to shortages (20 vacancies): nights 16, eves 18, days 18 . We have 4 line supervisors per shift, 1 admin supervisor (per shift) and way too many training supervisors who coordinate our "COUNTLESS" applicants, who are just knocking down the doors to get a job with us.

(ok, maybe 1 or 2 applicants)

ps: our line supervisors 'man' working positions, - radios, phones, etc.

Clearwater has 3 squads on nurse type schedules of 5 8's. Each squad has a supervisor, but they are on 4 10's (which is what we all were on before staffing shortages changed that) so I believe we have 4 plus a lead supervisor.
We do Police only and are at about 1/2 staffing with more folks getting ready to retire or move out of state. The unreal turnover rate does not help, then again, neither do the rumors of a potential S.O. takeover. I think we are down to 28 employees from 40. Maybe from 5-7 on the floor at any given time. Not everyone can do all 3 positions due to levels of training (call, info, and dispatch). We should have about 9-11 people on each squad. Hope that helps.

PS Tampa - How do you guys keep your sanity over there? WOW!

Hey Clearwater, Man it sounds like you guys are in really bad shape. 5-7 people. If 911 knew we were working so far below are minimum staffing levels they would probably pull our licenses. lol That is craziness. Ive been here a long time so I have seen harder times. But hey I know what its like to have to work with 11 on the floor and 8 of those are frequencys. So we usually combine a district (we have 3 districts and two frequencys per dist) and have 1 person for wants and warrents. But were like any other agency. A seriously high turn over rate. I dont know the remedy for it. It has been that way for as long as I can remember. They leave as fast as we hire them. But we are a public safety institution so us hard core people stay and work our butts off when were short. What else you gonna do. I would like to say it's gonna get better but it never does. lol Be safe everyone. And to all the agencies.. Just keep on pluggin. :lol: