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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 11281989 - IO.6 I .O.-6 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Contra FROM: .I/�/ Costa INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEEOtt n. ;s County DATE: November 13 1989 -- srq uK SUBJECT: REPORT ON THE RECRUITMENT OF SHERIFF' S DISPATCHERS SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Request the Director of Personnel to delegate to the Sheriff-Coroner for a pilot period of six months ending June 30, 1990 the authority to test Sheriff' s Dispatcher candidates. 2. Authorize the Sheriff-Coroner, subject to approval by the County Administrator regarding the availability of funds, to hire a temporary project position to actively recruit and handle the testing process for Sheriff ' s Dispatcher candidates. 3 . Request the Director of Personnel to work with the Sheriff-Coroner to provide a mechanism whereby the Sheriff-Coroner can hire trained and experienced Sheriff ' s Dispatchers above the first step. 4. Request the Director of Personnel to consider the need to authorize "Band Certification" for Sheriff' s Dispatcher candidates in order to increase the recruitment and hiring of minority and disabled candidates and authorize such certification if, in his judgment, such certification is appropriate. 5. Authorize the Sheriff-Coroner to request through normal channels that an unfilled Dispatcher position be reclassified to Supervising Dispatcher for the purpose of coordinating the activities of the staff who are providing training to Sheriff ' s Dispatchers. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENTYeS YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OFC UNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATIONOFBOAR COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER_ SIGNATURE(S): T POWERS SUNNE WRIGHT McPEAK ACTION OF BOARD ON November APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE X UNANIMOUS(ABSENT I I ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. CC: County Administrator ATTESTED /171 10�8, I489 Sheriff PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF Personnel Director SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR Criminal Justice Agency Kerry Harms-Taylor, CAO M382 (10/88) BY DEPUTY 6. Request the Sheriff-Coroner and Director of Personnel to consider the need to increase the minimum qualifications for Sheriff ' s Dispatcher to require that the candidate have demonstrated his or her ability to obtain and retain paid employment for a reasonable period of time as a prerequisite to applying for a position as' Sheriff ' s Dispatcher and provide their recommendations to the Board of Supervisors once they have completed this review. 7. Request the Sheriff-Coroner and Director of Personnel to prepare a report to the 1990 Internal Operations Committee by June 30 , 1990 on the experience with delegating testing authority for Sheriff ' s Dispatchers to the Sheriff-Coroner and for this purpose refer this item to the 1990 Internal Operations Committee. 8. Remove this item as a referral to our Committee. BACKGROUND: On October 31, 1989 the Board of Supervisors asked the Sheriff-Coroner to report to our Committee on November 13 , 1989 regarding the steps which can be taken to reduce the number of vacant positions of Sheriff' s Dispatcher. On November 13 , 1989 our Committee met with the Sheriff-Coroner, members of his staff and staff from the Personnel Department to discuss this matter. Our Committee received the attached reports from the Sheriff-Coroner and Personnel Department. Based on the report from the Sheriff-Coroner and a discussion of the recommendations made by the Sheriff-Coroner we have formulated the above recommendations for action by the Board of Supervisors which we believe will have a significant impact on reducing Dispatcher vacancies. The Sheriff-Coroner believes that with the adoption of these recommendations he will be able to reduce the Dispatcher vacancy factor by 30% in one year and by 80% in two years. We believe that these are reasonable goals to pursue. We would like the 1990 Internal Operations Committee to continue to monitor the implementation of these recommendations following a six month pilot period and for this purpose have recommended that the Sheriff-Coroner and Director of Personnel provide a progress report to the 1990 Internal Operations Committee by June 30, 1990. Sheriff—Coroner Richard K. Rainey Contra Costa County SHERIFF-CORONER Warren E.Rupf P.O. Box 391 Assistant Sheriff Martinez, California 94553-0039 (415) 646- Gerald T.Mitosinka 2402 Assistant Sheriff To: Date: Rodger L.Davis Internal Operations Committee November 9, 1989 Assistant sherif From: Subject.- Richard ubject:Richard K. Rainey, Sheriff-Coroner Dispatch Hiring PROBLEM STATEMENT Dispatching is an extremely stressful job that needs technically skilled people with a unique emotional makeup. Despite efforts by Personnel to find an adequate labor pool to fill vacancies over a long term, our vacancy factor continues. DISCUSSION On November 14, 1988, the Internal Operations Committee requested that the Sheriff-Coroner and the Director of Personnel report on the dispatcher recruiting problems and make recommendations for solving the problem. At that time we had 14 vacancies. By implementing the recommendations, members of the two departments attempted to streamline the hiring process and made positive changes to the system. These changes are only now bearing fruit, and we still have 13 vacancies. This problem is not unique to Contra Costa County. It is a nationwide concern that is being addressed also by the State of California through Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) and a member of this Department is on that POST committee. Although many positive changes have been made, we still have problem areas that have prevented us from alleviating the vacancy factor. Four major areas of the process are illustrated below. RETENTION TRAINING Continued job dissatis- Number which can be faction, burnout, processed/trained; probationary failure length of trainina 1 1 i i � I Y Y I RECRUITMENT I ADMIN PROCESSING TO HIRE I Too few aualifie_ I Restricted flew cf canciaates candidates threunhout i 1111 1 I system i AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER r � Dispatch Hiring November 9, 1989 Page 2 Recruitment and Testing Personnel sends out just under 2000 fliers every two months, yet we are not getting good, qualified candidates. Quality recruiting must take precedent over quantity recruiting. Experienced dispatch candidates are not being actively sought through the current recruiting process and job announcements are not reaching the lateral work force with sufficient emphasis. There is also little incentive built in to entice lateral candidates. At the same time, there appears to be no attempt to recruit men or to try to find applicants from the slightly handicapped or veterans ranks. The Sheriff's staff accepts responsibility for improving the recruitment effort. Administrative Processing to Hire Currently we are working with a certification list for the hiring process. Although some positive changes have occurred, we are still unable to obtain the quality of candidates required to fill the vacancy factor. Due to the certification process, we are only able to interview an average of seven new candidates a month. Some of these have accepted other jobs prior to our obtaining their names, some fail later stages of the hiring process, while others are found to be less than acceptable for hiring. Training Another bottleneck in the system is our inability to train large numbers of new dispatchers. An average training period takes six months, which means the dispatch trainers are continually in training phases. Their inability to obtain breaks from the program lead to job burnout. Currently trainers are a part of the minimum staffing levels and perform dispatch duties while training. They are also subject to mandatory overtime like all the other dispatchers.. The incentives to take on the added responsibilities of training are conspicuously absent and consist of only a $50.00 per month differential. Consequently, the training staff numbers are low. This in turn leads to a bottleneck in our ability to train large numbers even if we could get them from Personnel. Job burnout requires the forced selection of unwilling trainers from the dispatch ranks, which leads to more burnout. The minimum typing requirement at 25 words per minute has also slowed down the training process as trainees must work on increasing their speed while dealing with intensive dispatch training. The training program also suffered this year because of major changes in the Communications Division. The move to a new dispatch center and the implementa- tion of a new Computer Aided Dispatch system demanded that all the tenure Dispatch Hiring November 9, 1989 Page 3 dispatchers be trained on the new system. Trainers also had to be trained on the new system and reach a proficiency level before training new hires. When DRCC dissolves, dispatchers returning to Central Dispatch will require similar training. New hire training will again be slowed. Retention Continued job dissatisfaction, burnout and probationary failure lead to staffing shortages. All four phases of the process directly relate to the retention part of the problem. The consultant who studied DRCC stated that the dispatchers were grossly overworked due to unacceptable staffing levels, yet their proficiency was unmatched by all others he studied through years of consulting. Stress and job burnout or job dissatisfaction go hand in hand with this environment. Retention problem reasons are unique to dispatching. The specific stresses of the job, lack of job variety in the profession, long hours, inability to leave the Dispatch Center during work hours, responsibility for phones and radio and simultaneous responsibility for a radio position while training new people are all integral parts of the problem. CONCLUSION We must recruit from the experienced ranks. Over the last year only one experienced dispatcher was hired. We must also recruit with the thought in mind that quality candidates are a must. Unacceptable pass marks tend to overload the system and delay the hiring process. During the delay of the three-month hiring process, some of our quality candidates are being hired by other agencies. The certification process currently being used has several flaws. As noted in the attached, we were only able to interview a total of 17 candidates over a three- month period. Through our experience, we require a minimum of 15 new names each testing. Currently as we are only able to process two or three candidates each testing period, each failure during the process sets us back a minimum of two months. The training period takes approximately six-months to complete. This is intensive training that requires full dedication by the trainers and trainees. Those trainees with marginal typing skills are having to spend too much time increasing their typing speed and therefore detracting from their training process. As trainers suffer job burnout due to over work, we are unable to deal with quantity applicants - we must deal with quality. We are currently unable to train sufficient numbers to eliminate the vacancy factor as the turnover rate has been running parallel to our recruiting I hiring I training process. Dispatch Hiring November 9, 1989 Page 4 Dispatchers are currently not able to provide all the services in a manner the citizens deserve. Due to unrealistic minimums they are handling deputies' radio traffic while simultaneously handling citizen phone calls. This increases stress level and contributes to job burnout. The inability to experience job variety also prevents us from lowering the stress level. RECOMMENDATIONS We have discussed four problem areas of the system. The following are our recommendations to rectify these areas. 1. The Sheriff's Department to assume delegated authority for testing Dispatcher candidates, as is done for Deputy Sheriff candidates. This will increase the .responsiveness to qualified candidates and decrease the time between application and hire. 2. Hire a temporary project position to actively recruit and handle the testing process. This position will be paid from the existing vacancy factor. 3. Adopt a flexible pay step process depending on experience for lateral hires. 4. Band Certification be utilized for Dispatch Certification. This will increase the candidates pool.and improve affirmative action hiring data. Currently, qualified minority candidates below the "Rule of Ten" are not eligible for consideration. 5. Upgrade an unfilled Dispatcher to Supervising Dispatcher for the purpose of coordinating the activities of the trainers. If all the recommendations were instituted today, we would be able to reduce our vacancy factor by 30% over the next twelve months and by 80% over a two-year period. RKR/mg/lj COntra Personnel Department J' t v`{ Costa Administration Bldg. "' J �,. '' 651 Pine SUeeI t t its ., County , Martinez, California 94553-1292 �W ;... DATE:November 13, 1989 TO: Eileen Bitten, Assistant Director of Personnel FROM: Manuel Ramos, Personnel Analyst ! SUBJECT: Sheriff's Dispatcher Exam Up-date The following data and general information regarding the Sheriff's Dispatcher exam covers this period of October 17, thru November 13, 1989. There has been no significant change within the Sheriff's Djspatch� examination since the previous status report of October 18, 1989. The following activities have taken place to date: Oral Examination (#6673) - Open Exam Orals conducted on October 31 and November 1, 1989 14 candidates placed on eligible list. Written and Performance Examination (#6700) 55 candidates invited 31 appear for test 28 pass both written and performance 28 invited for oral interview scheduled for November 21 and 22, 1989 Supervising Sheriff's Dispatcher - Exam Promotional Opened on October 27, 1989 Closed on November 13, 1989 1 application received Possible waiver of examination Sheriff's Dispatcher Eligible List. One individual on the eligible list has passed all background requirements and will start in about two weeks and will be assigned to the Martinez Communications Center for one year of training. One other. individual on the eligible list has one more background requirement Lo be reviewed and if successful will also begin in about two weeks. MR/amc