This fall, police officers at Boston College will be aided by five full-time civilian dispatchers working in their headquarters.
“BCPD will be adding civilian dispatchers to our communication center at Maloney Hall,” said John King, director of Public Safety and BCPD police chief, in an email. “Presently we have two police officers at dispatch during busy periods. In the future we will have a dispatcher and a police officer when two staff members are needed. This will allow us to deploy the second officer to patrol the campus and respond to calls.”
King said that five people would be hired as civilian dispatchers to join the Dispatch and Communication Division within BCPD. The department currently consists of a large staff which includes gate attendants, security officers, communications officers, and support staff.
Both internal and external candidates have been interviewed for the open positions. “Several have previous public safety dispatching experience,” King said. “Dispatcher schedules will cover 24 hours a day, seven days per week.”
King anticipates the positions to be officially filled soon after Commencement this year. “Dispatchers will help to provide greater consistency given that they are assigned to dispatch as their primary duty,” he said.
This personnel shift will result in organizational changes when dispatches are received, but will not necessitate any additional construction on or restructuring of BCPD headquarters, apart from routine upgrades of alarm and dispatch technology.
