Dispatchers overextended

Too few covering too many hours with money too tight

PROVO — Dispatchers for the Utah County Sheriff's Office know they're not alone in their demanding work schedules. Dispatchers in Utah Valley and beyond work long, stressful shifts in cities where money is tight.

But when officials in the sheriff's office learned that their dispatchers recently started working mandatory overtime shifts — four, 12-hour shifts each week — they decided to call public attention to a long-standing problem.

"We have to put a value on what (dispatchers) do," said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Harris. "I think, in the past, we've just kind of dismissed dispatchers, but if we all take a real, hard look at it, communication is the essence of most of what is successful in law enforcement. Without good communication, we're destined to fail."

The sheriff's office says it has a manpower crisis in the county dispatch center, which dispatch supervisor Doris Mohler says is partly due to an exploding population.

"For the amount of growth that has happened in the population, the number of dispatchers has not increased in a proportionate manner," Mohler said.

According to the 2000 Census, Utah County's population grew from 263,590 in 1990 to 368,536 in 2000, a 28 percent increase. But Mohler, who has worked in the dispatch center for 18 years, says the staff has increased by just two since 1990.

"Eighteen years ago, the normal staffing was three or four people, depending on the time of day," she said. "Now we've gone up just a couple of people — we're working here today with five — but in that amount of time, there's been so much growth that's occurred. Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs weren't even there. Salem, Payson and Lehi, it seems like they've almost doubled in size."

Provo Dispatch Center Supervisor Dana Ferre said her center is facing an even bigger staffing crisis.

"We're actually worse off than county (sheriff dispatchers)," she said. "We have such a high workload, but the city hasn't given us any new dispatchers since the early '90s."

Ferre said all dispatch centers struggle to attract and keep staff.

"I don't think there's a dispatch center that you could call that wouldn't say the same thing," she said. "It goes with the territory; that's just how dispatching is — it's a stressful job. It's just something that we live with on a daily basis. It gets worse at times. Right now it's really bad. But we're always fighting it."

Both Ferre and Mohler cited the stressful working conditions as the main source of staffing problems.

"When you get in the position, a lot of times people will say, after taking calls, 'I'm just not cut out for this.' " Mohler said. "Because a lot of times they'll take the stress home with them, and not be able to complete it. A lot of times they become afraid to even answer the 911, because you don't know what's going to be on the other end until you pick it up."

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