911:: Re: 911:getting started

November 28, 2000

At 03:28 AM 11/26/2000 +0000, Roy Mumow mentioned:

>I've heard that CHP seems to be a training ground for dispatchers in

>L.A. County due to their (relative) low pay (don't yell at me ,

>that's just what I'd heard at schools down there from other

>dispatchers). CHP trains them and gives them experience, then they

>move on to get the (relatively) big bucks.

You heard correctly, unfortunately. Los Angeles county isn't the only CHP

Comm Center that suffers from that syndrome, though. In three of the four

counties within my Center's dispatch area, the consolidated PSAPs pay their

dispatchers higher wages. (I used to work for one of them before I moved to

southern CA and the CHP hired me. I made a WHOLE lot more in them thar

days. But wages aren't everything, believe it or not; I'm much much happier

than I ever was at " that other place. " )

It's kind of nifty that we hired one of the dispatchers away from one of

those consolidated PSAPs and we get inquiries every now and then from

others who work there. Granted, the one we hired hadn't been there a year

yet, so maybe she wasn't quite as " used " to the pay there... as the senior

folks who ask and then sound pretty dejected at the wage comparison.

>

>In our County, CHP dispatchers are about the top paid.

AND we can transfer around the state, from areas with high costs of living

(like here in Monterey County) to other places.

But we DO hire " entry level " dispatchers. Give us a chance!

Happy to be here, proud to serve.

Olmstead

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