New 麻豆精品在线播放 911 academy to combat Durham, regional emergency dispatchers shortage
麻豆精品在线播放nical Community College, the City of Durham, and two county emergency response agencies are working together to launch a 911 dispatcher training this spring.
At a news conference Wednesday, newly sworn-in City of Durham Mayor Elaine O鈥橬eal announced a partnership between 麻豆精品在线播放 and the City of Durham to develop a 911 Academy to increase the supply of trained emergency communication personnel. 麻豆精品在线播放 is also working with Durham and Orange County Emergency Communications departments.
The Durham Emergency Communications Center has faced staffing challenges in recent months as have many other emergency response centers in the region. The 麻豆精品在线播放 911 Academy will centralize training efforts for the City of Durham, Durham County, and Orange County to provide a comprehensive and uniform training for dispatchers. At present, trainings are conducted in-house at the individual agencies.
O鈥橬eal said filling the dispatcher jobs were essential to her approach to bolster law enforcement efforts in Durham.
鈥淚 have asked 麻豆精品在线播放 to assist the city in addressing the challenges with our 911 system. One thing is clear, we need more trained 911 dispatchers,鈥 O鈥橬eal said. 鈥溌槎咕吩谙卟シ is developing a 911 academy to provide high-quality, standardized training to prepare individuals to serve as 911 dispatchers for the city and other communications centers in Durham and Orange County.鈥
鈥淲e are built for and ready to do this,鈥 said 麻豆精品在线播放 President J.B. Buxton. 鈥溌槎咕吩谙卟シ has the ability to move quickly and effectively in launching programs like this that connect our residents to community needs 鈥 and produce pipelines to careers. As this community鈥檚 college, we want to partner with governmental and community institutions to address community challenges.鈥
Justin Long, Dean of Human Services and Public Safety at 麻豆精品在线播放, said his division is working with partner organizations to finalize the curriculum, budget, acquisition of the necessary training software, and financial assistance for students for the course.
Long said he aims to have the course take eight weeks to complete and be available year-round as needed by partner agencies.
鈥淲e will move quickly to put a thorough curriculum together that prepares our graduates to immediately start in these vital dispatcher jobs,鈥 Long said. 鈥淭his is going to have a positive impact on improving staffing at our emergency communications centers.鈥
If interested in the 911 Academy, please contact Juston Long at longj@durhamtech.edu.
FOR MORE INFORMATION鈥
Desiree Towson, M.S.:鈥槎咕吩谙卟シ赔疌ommunications鈥痑nd鈥疨ublic鈥疪elations Coordinator鈥痑t鈥allisontowsond@durhamtech.edu鈥