The Unsung Heroes
Many are used to seeing our blue uniforms at community events or lights driving down the road to keep our community safe. While officers are the most visible part of our department, there is group of men and women who provide some of the most critical work when it comes to public safety.
The dispatchers and call-takers who work in the Public Safety Communications Center are the unsung heroes of our community. They are responsible for answering 911 calls as well as non-emergency calls for police, fire, and medical services within the City of Colorado Springs and have the added responsibility of monitoring and dispatching police and fire field units to calls for service.
We are proud to announce that the men and women who provide that critical lifeline to safety now have a new workplace, complete with major renovations — all of which will allow the Communication Staff to serve Colorado Springs at the highest capacity. Some of the new improvements include technology upgrades and a new design of the desks.
The remodel of the center began in mid-October, but the planning had been in the works for years prior. After 3 months of work, staying right on track with the project schedule, the remodel was finished on December 18 and employees were able to move back into the space on December 21st.
The project started with re-wiring the entire center. Due to the amount of technology used in the communications center, there is a large amount of data cabling needed. In fact, the new center has 15 miles of data cabling! All of this cabling runs under the floor of the communication center to allow for the workspaces to be completely clear of cables and wires.
The renovation project also brought in all new furniture. Each workspace is a conversion sitting & standing desk with their own personal cooling and heating system. Communication Center employees work 10 hour shifts and the job can be very stressful. Creating a calm and comfortable environment for employees was extremely important during this remodel. The new furniture also made room for 8 new workspaces, allowing for future communication center growth.
Both the new furniture and the rewiring of the center have allowed for several technology upgrades, including tower lights at each desk. These lights have 4 different colors, red, orange, blue, or green, and indicate to supervisors which call-takers are available or in an active call. This new technology helps provide a visual representation for the workload within the communication center.
In 2019, the communication center answered over 650,000 calls. This renovation project has allowed the center to remain state-of-the-art.
“The communications center is one of the vital links in the chain of public safety. Generally, a response to someone in need is started with us by calling 911. It is a rewarding job but also a difficult and challenging one. We were fortunate to be able to make some needed upgrades to our center this past year to include all new electrical and cabling under our floor, new carpet, new paint, and new consoles. The new consoles provide a much larger work surface for employees and an updated professional look. The color scheme is less industrial and more calming. With the new design we were also able to add 8 additional work spaces to allow for growth. It’s important in a job where there is so much stress to be comfortable in your work space and have the most up to date equipment to better serve the public.” — Renee Henshaw, Commination Center Manager
To be eligible for the Public Safety Dispatcher (PSD) position, one must have 1 year of experience either with us as an Emergency Response Technician (ERT) or at another public safety communications center. The ERT training is a combination of classroom training and on the job training, which is a minimum of 25 weeks of training.
“You have to be empathetic and caring yet be able to separate yourself from someone else’s trauma and you have to be excellent at multi-tasking!” — CSPD Communication Center Call-Taker
To learn more about the CSPD Communications Center, visit https://coloradosprings.gov/police-department/page/communications-center?mlid=5226.
