Rotary Visits the Hennepin County 911 Dispatch Center
Rotarians were out in the community last week visiting the Hennepin County Emergency Dispatch Center. Teri Wold, Sergant - TAC, of the Hennepin County Sherrif's, Office was our host. Teri shared a 20 minute presentation with us about the new building that houses the dispatch center. It is an extremely secure building with the dispatch area built to withstand an F5 tornado. The dispatch center covers 38 areas in the Twin Cities Metro area and has the ability to set of tornado sirens directly.
We were able to visit the floor and talk with dispatchers. All were amazed at the amount of activity each dispatcher is responsible for. Each desk had 8 large computer terminals stacked 4 x 2. Each screen has a different activity being monitored. Tornado sirens, telephone screen, radio channels, etc. The job is ideal for those who like to multitask!
In 2017 there were 247,713 emergency calls made. Of those, 32,972 were from a land line and 198,682 were from cell phones. Texting to 911 is now available and Teri did warn, if you "butt dial" 911 and hang up, they will dispatch a patrol to come and find you to be sure you are safe! We had many questions for Teri, and one which was really interesting is that they have a 24/7 language line that can be utilized so if someone does not speak English, they will still get help very quickly.
For anyone interested in the job itself, the dispatchers work 12 hour shifts in two rotations: 4 days on 3 off, then 4 days on 4 off. A High school diploma is required and dispatchers make between $20 and $40 an hour. This was a very successful field trip for the Rotary and we plan on visiting again next year!