No one said the work was ever easy.
But for Angelisha Langford, telecommunications officer with the Lowndes County Emergency Management Agency, it’s not about how hard the job is. It’s about how she can serve people.
As a 911 dispatcher, Langford takes upwards of 100 or more emergency and non-emergency calls per day of people seeking help for one situation or another. Even Langford said, the job isn’t for everyone.
“You have to love serving people,” she said. “You have to know your purpose in serving people. … We talk on the phone and figure out where to dispatch it, and do all of that in one transaction. It’s very tedious, so you have to be patient with people.”
Tuesday morning, the Columbus Lowndes County Emergency Management Agency celebrated its Telecommunications Week with an EMA and 911 open house for citizens to observe how the voice on the other side of a 911 call works, EMA Director Cindy Lawrence said.
“People were allowed to come in today from 9 to 11 a.m. to tour the facility and visit the dispatchers,” Lawrence said. “They could meet with emergency management and talk with the dispatchers, and hopefully show some appreciative words to them about the work they do receiving emergency calls daily.”
Those hours are normally when dispatchers are least busy, according to the dispatchers who spoke with The Dispatch.
Dispatchers at EMA work 12-hour shifts, dealing with emergency and non-emergency calls. When someone dials 911, the dispatcher has to ask basic questions to determine where to send the call and the danger level. This process can take several minutes, which can be frustrating to the person calling, who would like assistance right away, Dispatcher Latonya Malone said.
“We have to get the call and take care of all the information,” Malone said. “Some people get mad when we ask the questions that we do. They just want help and they want it fast, and they don’t understand that the questions that we ask are vital.”
The dispatchers at the EMA office in Columbus also sometimes work more shifts because of a labor shortage, with only eight out of the 12 dispatchers the office needs. Lawrence said that first started happening in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when more people decided to be at home rather than go to work.
Langford added that the shortage of labor keeps some from even applying, and the long hours that come with it can be draining on people just starting out.
“It’s just kind of hard to keep good dispatchers,” she said. “So, we’re just kind of dealing with what we can right now in terms of manpower. Sometimes it can be a little stressful trying to schedule people.”
To help revitalize its workforce, EMA offers a variety of incentives for people to apply. Dispatchers make around $30,000 annually. The position also comes with insurance benefits, paid vacation and sick leave, as well as blocking off the shifts at work from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and vice versa.
Langford also said the open house was an excellent opportunity for people not only to speak with dispatchers but to see what they do and how it works because the office is usually off-limits, especially when there are calls coming in.
“Addresses, names, all that information can be given during a call while someone visiting is in the room,” she said. “Even though we would love for people to know what we do, when it gets to the point, we really can’t usually let them get that close to knowing our job without actually performing it.”
Anyone interested in a dispatcher position can fill out an application at the E911 office, Lawrence said.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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