This week, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced that the Kentucky State Police (KSP) graduated 30 telecommunicators, the agency’s largest graduation to date. According to a release, the dispatchers will serve 13 posts across the state, handling duties for Kentucky state troopers, commercial vehicle enforcement officers, conservation officers, and other emergency service agencies.
“Our state owes these 30 Kentuckians a debt of gratitude for providing a lifeline to those in need and the officers in the field,” Gov. Beshear said. “Telecommunicators are both the eyes and ears for our first responders. They are the lifeline to anyone who calls needing safety, medical care, rescue, or guidance. Kentucky is safe because they have answered to the call to serve.”
Gov. Beshear raised the annual salaries for telecommunicators to $41,000 annually, an $8,000 raise. He also gave KSP telecommunicators the ability to receive an annual $3,100 training stipend.
During the four-week training at the KSP Telecommunications Academy, candidates received 160 hours of instruction. Areas of focus included legal liability, limits of telecommunicator authority, telecommunicatons role in public safety, interpersonal communications, customer service, combating stress and PTSD, ethics and confidentiality, responder safety, basic fire dispatch, state emergency operation plans, criminal justice information systems, first aid training, emergency medical dispatch, and special needs callers.
“Telecommunicators are unseen, but often heard, first responders to any incident and can provide lifesaving information at a moment’s notice,” says KSP Telecommunications Training Instructor Jason Long.
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