911 Dispatchers Need Help, Says Grand Jury

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department must improve working conditions for emergency dispatchers, who suffer from low morale and an increasing number of work-related injuries, according to a grand jury report issued Friday.

Staff at the county’s Emergency Operations Center are five times more likely to file claims for disabilities caused at work than other county employees, the report concluded.

Dispatchers handling emergency calls in the sheriff’s patrol areas also suffer from fatigue and stress, often because they forgo mandated work breaks to keep up with the large volume of calls, the report said.

The Orange County Grand Jury, which serves as a watchdog over county government, urged sheriff’s officials to hire more dispatchers, increase their pay and remedy the cramped conditions under which they work.

The recommendations come at a critical time for the county’s operations center, which has seen 911 calls rise 50% between 1994 and 1999, according to the report.

“If there was a catastrophe in Orange County, the EOC is where all the communication begins and ends,” said grand juror Larry L. Petersen, the report’s author. He said it is essential that the center be adequately staffed with dispatchers who are fully trained.

Sheriff’s officials could not be reached for comment late Friday.

The study comes less than a year after a previous grand jury first highlighted the staffing problems among county dispatchers.

While more needs to be done, Petersen said, he has been encouraged by improvements being made at the center. The Sheriff’s Department has launched a successful recruitment drive and is training 19 dispatchers, he said.

Still, the report recommends that sheriff’s officials go further and buy better computer workstations to reduce the likelihood of stress injuries.

The panel’s six-month investigation also concluded that the county should expand the center’s facility at Loma Ridge to increase work room for dispatchers.