Santa Fe 911 Dispatch Center Hires New Director to Overhaul Operations

According to a recent article by Santa Fe New Mexican, officials with the Santa Fe Regional Emergency Communications Center revealed Bernard “Buster” Brown is the organization's new Director, in an attempt to resolve a significant labor shortage causing major disruptions of service.

Outside of the obvious health problems created by the global pandemic, one of the most unexpected consequences is a significant reduction in labor brought on by health concerns, general job dissatisfaction, and politics. Some may believe labor shortages simply imply stores and restaurants may see reduction in service quality and longer wait times, making the matter more of an inconvenience than anything else. That is certainly true however, for emergency services the lack of appropriate resources is a matter of life or death.

At this time, 25 of 51 positions at the Emergency Communications center are currently unoccupied, with 22 of those positions for emergency dispatchers. The situation has become even more complicated, with existing employees managing increased workloads and longer work hours. Bernard Brown was recruited due to his years of call center experience and recommendations from public official, and intends to keep the issue from spiraling out of control.  

“A wealth of experience is necessary because all the different agencies that utilize the RECC all have different needs that benefit the responders and the community,” commented city fire and board official Chief Paul Babcock.

Unfortunately Santa Fe is not alone with this problem, it is an ongoing issue for emergency services around the country. Although automated call solutions and artificial intelligence can offer assistance on the technical side, human agents are still necessary for the action after the call. If emergency service leaders are serious about getting operations fully functional, drastic steps need to be taken in order to make the job more attractive to potential candidates.

Edited by Maurice Nagle