LARGO, Fla. — The Pinellas County Regional 911 Division wants to hire more than a dozen dispatchers as the agency deals with high turnover rates which contributes to ongoing staffing shortages.

“We’re having quite a bit of turnover. Particularly, in our brand-new employees,” said Judith Weshinskey-Price, the Regional 911 Division director. “This is not the easiest job and we want to make sure that new hires are the best fit for the position.”

What You Need To Know

  •  Pinellas 911 has 19 open dispatcher positions

  •  The most vacancies the agency has seen in the past 5 years was 34

  •  Pinellas 911 director says the job has become a true career and profession

  • After training, new dispatchers can earn more than $23 per hour.

Weshinskey-Price, 47, said last month, there were 29 vacancies but the agency has since made offers to 10 job candidates. The peak number of vacancies in the past five years was 34 during the pandemic.

“Right after COVID we took a very hard hit,” said Bianca Young, the lead dispatcher. “We were working a lot of overtime. Very understaffed.”

Young, 28, said the rest of the dispatchers, called telecommunicators, have been working overtime to ensure 911 service is not disrupted.

“Right now, we work three, 12-hour shifts and one, 8-hour shift. So, that gives us 44 hours a week,” she said. “With our staffing levels increasing, we are working on getting us down to 40-hours a week.”

Young said they recently got a raise and have good benefits. After training, new dispatchers can make more than $23 an hour, earning about $70,000 per year with overtime and incentives, according to Weshinskey-Price.

“It can be a fairly lucrative position for people,” she said. “Our tenured employees are pretty stable. They know the job. They enjoy it. They love it.”

Weshinskey-Price said it’s a good time to get into the profession before a college degree is required. The agency will soon open a new state of the art training facility where each telecommunicator console costs more than $75,000.

“We are moving towards a job where higher education is going to become necessary,” said Weshinskey-Price. “Where this is going to be a true career and profession for people.”

The 911 division director said the best candidates are people who’ve had jobs where they’ve had to multi-task like restaurant workers.

“The person who makes the best candidate right now is someone who’s had customer service experience,” she said. “When you call 911 nobody’s having a good day. So, we like for people to have had experience with people who are experiencing challenges.”

The agency has a $300 million budget, handles nearly one million calls per year and the dispatchers are some of the highest paid in the Tampa Bay area, according to Weshinskey-Price. Young said she plans to stay on the job until she retires.

“I’ve been here for five years. I plan on making this job a career,” she said. “Finishing out my 30 years with the county.”