Emergency Communication Specialist I

About the role

The City of Aurora is seeking dedicated and collaborative individuals to join its team of talented and valued employees. Aurora911 is a public safety communications center that processes more than 600,000 calls annually for police, fire, ambulance, and other emergency services.

Responsibilities

• Receive and prioritize emergency and non-emergency calls and digital requests for emergency assistance from the public requesting police, fire, ambulance, and other emergency services.
• Gather, analyze, and report critical information during life-or-death situations such as crimes in progress, medical emergencies, and fire/rescue incidents.
• Administer care by providing pre-arrival medical instruction or directing callers through lifesaving procedures such as CPR, childbirth, or controlling of blood loss while emergency medical services are in route.
• Operate a variety of public safety communications equipment including (but not limited to) 911 emergency call handling system, text-to-911, advanced location systems, computer aided dispatch systems, instant recall recorder and paging and intercom systems.
• Initiate public safety response requests into computer-aided dispatch system via keyboards to provide needed data to dispatchers and responding units/agencies.
• Provide emergency aid, information and directions to non-emergency callers; refer and/or transfer calls to outside agencies as appropriate.
• Read/interpret maps for the public, field personnel, and other agencies in order to assist in locating certain geographical areas; interpret telephone call locations from maps by applying knowledge of local geography in order to provide appropriate and timely assistance.
• May provide backup to dispatchers for computer queries, processing documents and telephone notifications during busy periods and/or critical incidents.
• Review policy and procedures with trainees; work directly with trainee on shift to ensure proper techniques, call routing, and appropriate level of response; document training activity, and provide input to supervisors on trainee progress as requested.
• If eligible and certified to serve in a training capacity; provide support to police dispatchers via the “Services” channel.

Requirements

• Age: Applicants must be 18 years of age or older at the time of employment.
• Education: High School Diploma or GED.
• Experience: Successful completion of basic training and introductory period with the Department, maintaining a “successful” performance rating in all anchors of job performance.
• Licenses and Certifications: Required through training throughout employment.
• NCIC/CCIC Certification
• NIMS 100, 200, 700 Certification
• Certification in CPR and First Aid
• Crisis Intervention
• Emergency Medical Dispatcher (MPDS) Certification
• Emergency Fire Dispatcher (FPDS) Certification
• Emergency Police Dispatcher (PPDS) Certification
• Communications Training Officer (CTO) Certification

Qualifications

• Operations, services and activities of the Aurora911 Emergency Communications Center
• Operational characteristics of the department’s public safety telecommunications technology
• Techniques of questioning for both emergency and non-emergency calls
• Principles and application of diversity awareness, to include implicit/explicit biases
• Principles of de-escalation and interacting with people in crisis
• Customer service principles and problem resolution techniques
• Applications of various City and Department policies and procedures
• Geographic features and locations within the area served
• Modern office technology and equipment, including computers and related software applications
• Applicable tools and equipment operations
• Applicable Federal, State and local laws, codes and regulations

Skills

• Effective time, task, and goal management
• Excellent confidentiality, integrity, accountability, and transparency in work activity
• Professionalism and emotional intelligence
• Emotional self-regulation in a frequently high-stress environment
• Speaking, writing, and comprehending American English language
• Effectively communicating and elicit information from emotionally elevated callers
• Multiple task concurrency

Benefits

Aurora911 provides a range of benefits including annual cost of living increases, annual high-performance bonuses, psychological services and wellness/resiliency resources, free, secure parking, free electric vehicle (EV) charging, and a highly competitive total compensation package.

Pay

The hiring rate is $30.24 hourly during basic training. Lateral hiring range is $30.24 - $38.23 hourly, during basic training. Advancement from your starting point in our progression series may occur at a faster pace and will be driven by your individual performance and initiative.

Schedule

This is a life safety-sensitive position that handles confidential information. The position requires working in a 24-hour environment, which includes shifts on swings and graveyards, weekends, holidays, overtime, and on-call.