Col. Joe Wells, with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, says there’s a critical need for emergency 911 communications across the state.
The county itself is working to hire 10 operators — and other centers in Northeast Florida are working to find help too.
In emergency communications centers, 911 operators are in charge of dispatching sheriff’s deputies, police officers, firefighters and paramedics. Wells said the center in Putnam County has many vacant workstations.
“These should have bodies in those seats to be answering these 911 calls,” Wells said. “We’re only 60-percent staffed. We need dedicated communication operators badly.”
The colonel said the communications center doesn’t have enough operators to keep up with the growing demand for emergency services.
As of Tuesday, Duval County had 41 openings. Clay and St. Johns counties both need to hire seven operators. And Nassau County needs to fill two operator positions.
The yearly salaries for these jobs can range from $32,000 to $44,000.
Wells said the lower salaries are part of the reason why many people quit. They feel it’s not money enough to deal with the daily demands and emotional stress that comes with handling emergency calls.
“The pay can be challenging if you are raising a family on that pay,” Wells said. “We are working very hard, not only in our agency, but across the state to get those salaries up.”
This means agencies are having to think outside the box to recruit new employees. In Putnam County, they’re trying to fill some positions by recruiting recent high school graduates who might be considering a career in law enforcement.
“We look at it two different ways,” Wells said. “It may be someone who wants to use this as the first stage of a career in law enforcement, or it may be someone coming out of high school that would like to make a career of our communications center.”
High school graduates who become trained as 911 operators and then work for a year at the Putnam County center become eligible to receive college tuition assistance.
CAREER LINKS: Putnam County Sheriff’s Office | Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office | Clay County Sheriff’s Office | St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office | Nassau County Sheriff’s Office