911 Public Safety Telecommunicator Trainee

Compensation Range $22.49 - $28.81

Please note: This job opening may close earlier than the stated date, due to high candidate volume. If interested, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Who We Are:

At the City of High Point, we celebrate the creator in everyone. Building on our rich cultural history steeped in industrialism and innovation, our employees seek not only to transform themselves, but the world around us. We are collaborators, we are makers, we are visionaries.


We invite you to explore the many opportunities to serve our community, by sharing your talents, skills, and expertise. You'll join a diverse team of over 1300 individuals dedicated not just to making a career, but a difference; because what we create in High Point, changes the world!

Our Core Values:

• Stewardship: We manage the city’s resources responsibly and make decisions that sustain High Point’s future. In other words, we take care of what we have today to build what we’ll need tomorrow
• Welcoming: We create a friendly, open environment where residents, partners, and visitors feel valued and embraced. We want everyone who connects with High Point to feel welcomed, like they belong here.
• Integrity: We act with honesty, transparency, and ethical responsibility in everything we do. That means doing what’s right – even when no one’s watching. This is how we earn our community’s trust.
• Productivity: We stay focused on results, fostering creativity, innovation, and outside-the-box thinking. We don’t just get things done – we find smarter, better ways to do them.

What We Offer:
The City of High Point offers a competitive salary commensurate with education and experience. We also offer generous benefit package for full-time employees which include but are not limited to:

• A guaranteed life-long monthly pension, once vested after 5 years of service
• 401K and 457B Retirement Plans
• PTO earned within first year
• 13 Paid Holidays per year
• Tuition Reimbursement Plan
• Competitive medical, dental, and vision plans effective day one

What You'll Do:

Public Safety Telecommunicators are the first of the first responders who work as a team of responsible technical professionals to provide the critical link between the community and emergency responders. Telecommunicators coordinate the responses for the City’s Fire and Law Enforcement Departments, while relaying calls for Emergency Medical Services and other jurisdictions to the appropriate agencies. They use a variety of technologies, including Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems, digital trunked radio systems, and secure criminal and motor vehicle information networks to coordinate and document responses to calls for assistance in High Point. Telecommunicators participate in training and exercises to ensure the highest level of performance and readiness for the ever-changing challenges presented by the modern public safety environment. Telecommunicators work in teams, under the direction of a Telecommunications Supervisor, in 12-hour shifts to provide service 24-hours every day of the year.

Essential Tasks & Responsibilities:

• Receives voice, text, and video communications concerning public safety, collects, analyzes, and triages the information, then coordinates an appropriate response by public safety field units while documenting the required information in the computer aided dispatch system.
• Uses digital trunked mobile radio system to coordinate efficient emergency responses, relays calls for services, passes along operational information and messages, monitors the radio system to document self-initiated public safety activity by field units, and responds to distress calls from field units; conducts accountability and safety procedures as necessary.
• Uses specialized training to effectively communicate and build a rapport with panicked, injured, and/or impaired individuals to obtain necessary and vital information necessary for an effective emergency response.
• Uses national and state criminal information computer systems in response to requests from and to communicate with Federal, State, and Local public safety officials.
• Monitors and responds to a variety of dedicated public safety systems to help locate distressed individuals and coordinate emergency responses.
• Works with Telecommunicators from other agencies, sworn and civilian Law Enforcement personnel, Fire Department personnel, Emergency Medical personnel, Emergency Management personnel, and other local, county, and state agencies to access and coordinate necessary resources for situations that may require them.
• Works with City utilities and third-party organizations as needed to obtain resources for public safety situations.
• Conducts periodic tests and basic maintenance of the equipment within the communications facilities.
• Ensures that all work is performed in accordance with division, department, and city standards, policies, and procedures, to include OSHA and other Federal and State mandates.

Qualifications:

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Must be at least 18 years of age
• High School Diploma or GED equivalent
• Must be able to type at least 30 words per minute.
• Must have or obtain a valid North Carolina Driver’s License upon employment.
• Must be able to obtain the appropriate certifications to utilize the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Division of Criminal Information services and the Federal Bureau of Investigations National Crime Information Center.
• Must successfully complete a thorough background investigation to include a polygraph examination, psychological evaluation, and appropriate medical clearances.
  
  

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's or associate Degree in 911 Communications and Operations, Criminal Justice, Psychology, Information Technology, or any closely related program.
• Basic Telecommunicator Certification through APCO, NENA, and/or the NC Justice Academy.
• NC DCI Module 1 Certification
• Expertise with Computer Aided Dispatch systems, particularly Central Square’s One Solution system.
• Expertise with public safety radio systems, particularly Motorola’s MCC 7500E Elite system.
• Expertise with public safety ESInet phone systems, particularly Motorola’s Vesta 911 system.
  
  

Physical Requirements

Degree of Physical Demands (Strength) usually associated with this classification:

• Light Work: Exerting a negligible amount of force constantly to answer telephone, key microphones, and move objects. Physical demand requirements usually require some walking or standing; however, worker sits most of the time. Headphones are used, and there is significant use of arms and hands.

Type of Physical Demands usually associated with this classification:

• Reaching, Handling, and Fingering: (Reaching - Extending the hand(s) and arm(s) in any direction). (Handling - Seizing, holding, grasping, turning, or otherwise working with hand and hands (fingering not involved). (Fingering - Picking, pinching, punching or otherwise working with fingers primarily (rather than with whole hand or arm as in handling).

Talking and/or Hearing:

• Must be able to speak in a manner that is articulate and clearly understood in person, over a radio and through a telephone.
• Guidelines for hearing are derived from the current NENA Hearing Standards for Public Safety Telecommunicators (Currently NENA-STA-007.3-2020):
• Hearing thresholds shall be determined using pure tone stimuli via air conduction with test frequencies including, but not limited to, 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, and 6000 Hz, not to exceed 25 dB HL in either ear.
• The minimum acceptable standard of speech discrimination in quiet shall be a score no poorer than 90% correct.
• The minimum acceptable standard of speech discrimination in noise shall be no poorer than 70% correct.

• Accommodation - The use of hearing aids, cochlear implants or enhanced listening devices too achieve the above speech discrimination standards shall be permitted.

The work location of this job will be 1730 Westchester Dr High Point, North Carolina.

Our Commitments
The City of High Point is dedicated to fostering a work environment that values individuals from all backgrounds and seeks to attract and retain the most qualified partners in service to the citizens of High Point. As an at-will employer, the City allows employees to terminate their employment, or be terminated at any time, with or without cause, as long as it is not prohibited by law.

The City of High Point is committed to classifying and compensating its employees fairly for the work they do, weighing both the internal capabilities and the external market. While the job description is not intended to and does not create a contract of employment, we are excited to use this “living document” as a guide for managing performance and positions to ensure job descriptions are reflective of the current work required by the incumbent or expected by any candidate to whom an offer of employment is extended.

The City of High Point is committed to providing a safe, comfortable working environment for all employees. To that end, we are proud to comply with all Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements, as well as make reasonable accommodations to candidates and employees as we are able in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Candidates selected for employment must undergo (a.) a drug screening, in accordance with the City’s drug and alcohol policy and (b.) a background screening to determine whether there is any current, pending, or previous charge, conviction or other infraction deemed incompatible with service in the capacity for which the candidate is being hired. In lieu of or in addition to background screening, candidates selected for employment in a position that requires working with children in any capacity must be fingerprinted and undergo a criminal history record check conducted by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. Certain positions are considered so critical to the health and safety of others that a candidate cannot be placed in any such position without passing a pre-placement physical exam. The City offers employment to successful candidates conditioned upon the City’s receipt of satisfactory results from all required screenings, checks, and exams, as applicable.