TCOMM 911’s training program is nationally recognized under APCO International’s Agency Training Program Certification, also known as Project 33. This designation identifies our training curriculum as meeting the APCO minimum training standards for Public Safety Telecommunicators (APCO ANS 3.103.2-2015).
All of TCOMM 911’s Public Safety Telecommunicators go through this extensive in-house training program, designed to give new employees the skills and confidence needed to work in a fast-paced, challenging work environment. They are cross-trained and ready to work at any position within the communications center. Telecommunicators are required to become CPR certified within the first thirty days of hire. They are also required to become certified in Criteria Based Medical Dispatch, National Incident Management System (NIMS) programs and the Telecommunicator1/Telecommunicator2 (T1/T2) programs sponsored by the Criminal Justice Training Center (CJTC).
After successfully completing the in-house training, employees begin learning call receiving functions, utilizing the techniques taught in the classroom based setting while working one-on-one with a Communications Training Officer (CTO). After meeting the requirements necessary to call receive on their own, they begin the next phase of training. This next step teaches them how to dispatch for fire/EMS and, upon meeting those training requirements, they begin the final phase of dispatching for law enforcement. Once this is complete, Public Safety Telecommunicators are considered fully trained and released to work on their own at all positions. Overall, the process from date of hire to becoming fully trained takes between 12-18 months.
To keep skills current, our Telecommunicators must attend a minimum of 24 hours of continuing education every year. TCOMM 911 offers both in-house training as well as hosting classes from experts in the fields of public safety, including: Domestic Violence, Stress Management, TTY, Handling Suicidal Calls, and Hostage Negotiations courses.
Training Supervisor
The Training Supervisor administers the training program for the agency, which is a critical component of reducing liability in a high risk profession. Ongoing training is critical, and all Telecommunications staff are cross-trained in all dispatch functions to enable them to assist in any sudden change to workload or large scale event. The Training Supervisor ensures all training is up to date and maintains the Agency’s compliance with the Federal Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division.
Communications Training Officer
An integral part of TCOMM 911’s training program utilizes the in-house talents of Telecommunications staff to assist with training efforts. The Communications Training Officer (CTO) program consists of certified training officers who provide classroom, hands-on and continuing education to not only TCOMM 911 employees, but to neighboring agencies as well. They are also instrumental in guiding new employees during the active learning phase.