INDIANAPOLIS — The Marion County Sheriff’s Office is trying to hire more 911 dispatchers.
“Every day, right now as we’re sitting here talking, there’s a 911 call being answered and someone’s getting help,” said Maj. Michael Hubbs. “A lot of our heroes carry guns. Some have capes. Our heroes have headsets.”
Hubbs says likely everyone will have to call 911 at some point in their life.
“A dispatcher is a very important job,” he said. “Actually in some aspects, it’s more important than a police officer or firefighter. And they’re required to do a lot. So we need the best caliber of a candidate to sit in that seat.”
Right now, the county currently has 135 dispatchers and they’d like to hire about 30 more. Hubbs recognizes if they don’t have enough people answering the phones, that could impact 911 response times.
“There is a direct correlation,” Hubbs said. “You have to have enough people to answer the call volume.”
With the highest call volume in the state, answering over one million calls a year, Hubbs says Marion County is in the top ten busiest centers in the country.
“Our job is just to hold people’s hand through emergencies and get them to help as quickly as we can,” said Emily Euliss, a 911 dispatcher.
Euliss has been a dispatcher for six years and encourages anyone who’s ever thought about the professional to give it a try.
“I’ve helped walk people through intense situations,” she said. “People that have escaped from homes that have been trafficked, or children that are injured, or just being able to get somebody help when they’ve been shot. We deal with the most extreme and we deal with some that are not extreme. But in those extreme moments where you make a difference, that makes you feel like you did something.”
No experience is necessary. You just have to pass a background check as well as a medical and psychological evaluation. The pay starts at $36,000 per year.
To learn more, visit JoinMCSO.Indy.gov.
