Call taker vs emergency communications officer

The differences between call takers and emergency communications officers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an emergency communications officer has an average salary of $39,422, which is higher than the $38,776 average annual salary of a call taker.

The top three skills for a call taker include computer aided dispatch, taker and CAD. The most important skills for an emergency communications officer are patrol, computer aided dispatch, and emergency situations.

Call taker vs emergency communications officer overview

	Call Taker	Emergency Communications Officer
Yearly salary	$38,776	$39,422
Hourly rate	$18.64	$18.95
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	11,539	93,158
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 30%	Bachelor's Degree, 46%
Average age	39	39
Years of experience	-	-

Call taker vs emergency communications officer salary

Call takers and emergency communications officers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Call Taker	Emergency Communications Officer
Average salary	$38,776	$39,422
Salary range	Between $29,000 And $51,000	Between $28,000 And $53,000
Highest paying City	San Mateo, CA	Bloomington, IL
Highest paying state	California	Oregon
Best paying company	City of San Antonio	City of Austin
Best paying industry	Government	Government

Differences between call taker and emergency communications officer education

There are a few differences between a call taker and an emergency communications officer in terms of educational background:

	Call Taker	Emergency Communications Officer
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 30%	Bachelor's Degree, 46%
Most common major	Criminal Justice	Criminal Justice
Most common college	-	-

Call taker vs emergency communications officer demographics

Here are the differences between call takers' and emergency communications officers' demographics:

	Call Taker	Emergency Communications Officer
Average age	39	39
Gender ratio	Male, 26.0% Female, 74.0%	Male, 43.1% Female, 56.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 6.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.1% Asian, 0.9% White, 72.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 6.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.1% Asian, 0.9% White, 72.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	17%	17%

Differences between call taker and emergency communications officer duties and responsibilities

Call taker example responsibilities.

Manage truck and equipment inventory, rental tracking and GPS monitoring.
Dispatch all patrol officers and fire departments.
Enter confidential info through NCIC directly under SLED/FBI.
Place outbound calls to advise members of eta.
Dispatch need help such as fire ems and law.
Receive emergency calls and route calls to patrol units.

Emergency communications officer example responsibilities.

Dispatch all patrol units to calls for service.
Monitor Fire/EMS calls of adjacent jurisdictions.
Maintain composure and compassion while handling emergency and non-emergency calls from a diverse community
Retrieve sensitive information such as, DMV files and background histories.
Insert foley catheter or straight cath a patient as directed.
Receive training regarding updates and changes of policies, procedure and regulations to CJIS.

Call taker vs emergency communications officer skills

Common call taker skills

Computer Aided Dispatch, 15%
Taker, 13%
CAD, 8%
Data Entry, 5%
Customer Service, 5%
EMS, 4%

Common emergency communications officer skills

Patrol, 20%
Computer Aided Dispatch, 10%
Emergency Situations, 7%
CPR, 6%
CAD, 6%
EMS, 6%

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Call Taker vs Emergency Communications Officer

Updated January 8, 2025

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