The Position

APPLY IMMEDIATELY. APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED UNTIL A SUFFICIENT NUMBER ARE RECEIVED FOR THE CURRENT ROUND OF TESTING.

Employment Lists shall remain in effect for one year, unless terminated or exhausted. The Employment List generated from this recruitment may be utilized to fill future vacancies while the List remains active.

Position Definition: Performs a variety of difficult and specialized technical and clerical duties in the Police Department; processes information in order to dispatch the appropriate public safety personnel and equipment in response to routine and emergency telephone and radio requests and performs related work as required.

Supervision Exercised and Received: This class has no supervisory responsibility. Receives general direction from assigned management and/or supervisory staff.

Duties and Responsibilities

Essential Functions: The functions of the classification may include, but are not limited to, the functions below and are subject to changes in operational necessity.

• Answers an emergency and non-emergency switchboard including hearing impaired line and related equipment;
• Analyzes and evaluates complaint call information and determines dispatch priority and appropriate personnel and resources required;
• Uses radio codes to dispatch and coordinate police personnel response units to incidents that originate with 911, non-emergency, and radio calls; transfers the information so that medical and fire response units are dispatched to incidents;
• Follows all safety rules and protocols included in the Injury and Illness Prevention Program; takes appropriate action as required to identify and correct safety hazards and report safety concerns to their supervisor;
• Performs required duties under the City's disaster response plan;
• May provide training to Public Safety Dispatcher(s) on an as-needed basis;
• Maintains radio contact and monitors the status of field units and incidents at all times;
• Enters information into the Computer Assisted Dispatch (CAD) and supportive systems, which processes information and associated data on incidents;
• Maintains and updates various computer files and records in several software programs; includes accurate record keeping for officer status, premise information, emergency business information, schedules and files interrogations (addresses, property location);
• Accesses sensitive criminal history, employee confidential information and numerous other types of information from internal and external computer databases, including city annual sex and drug registration;
• Monitors video screens, including the jail and the exterior of the public safety building, and notes any unusual activity;
• Recognizes and responds to alarms and alert tones associated with equipment malfunctions and calls for assistance;
• Makes calls to tow companies, agencies, police departments, City personnel and any other necessary outgoing calls;
• Maintains current information sheets, crime information bulletins and prints when necessary for upcoming shifts;
• Uses map reading skills and assists in setting up geographical perimeters; exhibits knowledge of city geography;
• Researches suspects wanted for warrants and communicates information to "crime stoppers";
• Distributes to Department personnel and files "critical reach" flyers from neighboring agencies;
• Prepares wanted or informational bulletins from crime reports and distributes within the Police Department; and
• Transcribes statements of witnesses, victims and suspects, as well as investigative follow-ups and uses word processing software for the production of search warrants.

Non-essential Functions:

• May search suspects in custody in the city jail; and
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

Knowledge of:
Radio, computer and telecommunications equipment; English usage, spelling, grammar and punctuation; effective communication techniques, and map reading.

Ability to:
Follow oral and written directions;

Learn to operate radio, computer, and office equipment;

Perform deductive and inductive reasoning, think clearly, act quickly and apply logic and common sense to problem solving;

Maintain confidentiality of private and sensitive information;

Work in a fair, tactful and courteous manner with a diverse community, departmental staff, and those contacted in the course of work;

Correctly apply established departmental policies in the dispatch of field units;

Speak clearly and concisely via radio, telephone and in person;

Memorize and retain information from a variety of sources;

Coordinate movements of two or more limbs together primarily while sitting and occasionally while standing;

Make skillful, coordinated, rapid movements of the fingers of both hands to perform keyboard operations while operating radio console and phone equipment;

Detect and discriminate among sounds that vary over broad ranges of pitch and/or loudness;

Focus on a single source of auditory information in the presence of other distracting and less important sounds and activities;

Perform a number of cognitive processes, including but not limited to, thinking of a number of ideas or alternatives about a given incident, remembering information pertaining to details of recent incidents, comparing letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns quickly and accurately and choosing between two or more sources of information;

Multi-task in performance of daily functions;

Write clear and concise reports;

Accurately type 45 words per minute; and

Render accurate court testimony.

Experience and Education Guidelines: Any combination equivalent to experience and education that would most likely provide the required knowledge and abilities would be qualifying. A typical way to obtain the knowledge and abilities would be:

Education: High school diploma or certified equivalent (GED); course work in administration of justice or a closely-related field is highly desired.

Experience: Recent work experience involving public contact in which good judgment, tact and effective written and verbal communication skills were clearly required; six months of experience in police-related work is highly desired.

Licenses/certifications/other requirements: Must pass a comprehensive background check and be willing to work a rotating shift schedule including, but not limited to, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime, and be available on call as needed; travel to attend meetings, seminars and conferences. Classification requires the possession and continued maintenance of a valid class "C" California driver's license.

Possession within 12 months of hire and maintenance of a valid California POST Public Safety Dispatcher Basic Certificate.

Conditions of Work: During the course of performing the functions of this position, the employee may encounter the following conditions:

Working indoors, computer monitor use, working alone or with other individuals.

SELECTION PROCESS

1. Application review. All applications will first be reviewed for minimum qualifications. Please scan and attach required test certificates to your online application. A limited number of the best qualified applicants will be invited to participate in the next step of the selection process.

Please read the following information carefully. The following document MUST be attached to your online application:

• A typing certificate, valid within the last twelve (12) months, confirming the ability to keyboard a minimum of 45 net words per minute. Typing certificates will be accepted from recognized businesses, adult schools or employment agencies. Internet typing certificates WILL NOT be accepted. Typing certificates MUST contain the following information: name of agency, gross words per minute, length of test (must be at least three minutes in duration), total number of errors, net speed/corrected rate (must be 45 wpm or greater), date and signature of authorized agency personnel.

2. Structured Oral Interview (weighted 100%). Candidates must achieve a passing score of 70% or higher on each weighted part in order to be placed on the Eligible List. Interviews will be conducted on an ongoing basis. No make-up dates will be offered.

3. Departmental Interview. Top scoring candidates on the Eligible List will be invited to interview with the department hiring manager and/or team members. After departmental interviews, the selected candidate will be required to take the CritiCall test within a designated time period and achieve at a minimum, the module scores listed below. Should the candidate already possess the required CritiCall test scores in the required modules listed below (dated within one year of their City of San Leandro application), they may submit their test scores instead of re-taking the test.

CritiCall test scores must meet or exceed all of the following module score requirements:

• Decision Making -
• Data Entry MT (Audio) * 2004
• Call Summarization 1 58
• Call Summarization 2 MT* 66
• Cross Referencing (Audio) 54
• Memory Recall 70
• Memory Recall-Numeric (Audio)* 60
• Prioritization 72
• Map Reading* 66
• Spelling* 72
• Sentence Clarity* 64
• Reading Comprehension* 55
• Overall Non-Data Entry 62
• Overall Data Entry 2004

Once the CritiCall test scores have been submitted, the candidate will be subjected to a background investigation which may include, but is not limited to, a personal and employment history assessment, criminal history check, financial background check, medical, polygraph, psychological testing, and verification of a valid California driver's license.

4. Job Offer. The selected candidate will receive a conditional job offer, subject to passing pre-employment conditions which may include, but is not limited to, background check, criminal history check, medical, and verification of a valid California driver's license. If a pre-employment condition is not successfully met, the City reserves the right to rescind a job offer.

Additional Information

Americans with Disabilities Act: In accordance with the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act, Human Resources will make reasonable efforts in the examination process to accommodate persons with disabilities. Please advise Human Resources prior to 5:00 p.m. of the final filing deadline if accommodations are required. Medical documentation must be provided upon request.

Veteran's Preference: If applying for first-time employment with the City of San Leandro within five years of separation from full-time active service, veteran's preference points will be given to honorably discharged veterans who served a minimum of three consecutive years of full-time, active service in the Armed Forces of the United States. Candidates must receive an overall passing score in order to qualify for the application of veteran's preference, which will result in a three percent increment to that passing score. Applicants wishing to qualify must, prior to the application deadline, attach or provide a DD Form 214 as proof of eligibility for the veteran's preference.

The City of San Leandro is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Information contained herein is subject to change without notice.