Police Communications Dispatcher Overview
Working as a Police Communications Dispatcher
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a police communications dispatcher. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.86 an hour? That's $41,298 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 5,500 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Police Communications Dispatcher Do
There are certain skills that many police communications dispatchers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed empathy, typing skills and communication skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a police communications dispatcher, we found that a lot of resumes listed 16.1% of police communications dispatchers included police department, while 8.5% of resumes included cad, and 8.5% of resumes included non-emergency calls. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the police communications dispatcher job title. But what industry to start with? Most police communications dispatchers actually find jobs in the non profits and government industries.
How To Become a Police Communications Dispatcher
If you're interested in becoming a police communications dispatcher, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 32.7% of police communications dispatchers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.9% of police communications dispatchers have master's degrees. Even though some police communications dispatchers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a police communications dispatcher. When we researched the most common majors for a police communications dispatcher, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on police communications dispatcher resumes include high school diploma degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a police communications dispatcher. In fact, many police communications dispatcher jobs require experience in a role such as administrative assistant. Meanwhile, many police communications dispatchers also have previous career experience in roles such as police officer or customer service representative.
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Police Communications Dispatcher Jobs
Police Communications Dispatcher Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of communications dispatcher you might progress to a role such as dispatcher eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title dispatcher supervisor.
| Top Careers Before Police Communications Dispatcher |
|---|
Administrative Assistant12.6 % |
Police Officer11.5 % |
Office Manager5.7 % |
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| Top Careers After Police Communications Dispatcher |
|---|
Police Officer7.9 % |
Receptionist6.9 % |
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What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Police Communications Dispatcher
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
City of Seattle, Wa Police Communications Dispatcher-I Police Communications Dispatcher-I | City of Seattle, Wa City of Seattle, Wa | 05/23/2020 05/23/2020 | $82,43405/23/2020 $82,434 |
City of Seattle Police Communications Dispatcher-I Police Communications Dispatcher-I | City of Seattle City of Seattle | 05/23/2020 05/23/2020 | $61,04505/23/2020 $61,045 |
City of Portland Emergency Communications Lateral Police Dispatch Trainee Emergency Communications Lateral Police Dispatch Trainee | City of Portland City of Portland | 05/14/2020 05/14/2020 | $54,36605/14/2020 $54,366 |
City of Seattle, Wa Police Communications Dispatcher-I Police Communications Dispatcher-I | City of Seattle, Wa City of Seattle, Wa | 02/19/2020 02/19/2020 | $74,45802/19/2020 $74,458 |
City of Seattle Police Communications Dispatcher-I Police Communications Dispatcher-I | City of Seattle City of Seattle | 02/19/2020 02/19/2020 | $61,04502/19/2020 $61,045 |
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Police Communications Dispatcher Demographics
| Gender |
|---|
Female 63.2 % |
Male 34.2 % |
Unknown 2.6 % |
| Ethnicity |
White 61.1 % |
Hispanic or Latino 14.1 % |
Black or African American 13.6 % |
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| Foreign Languages Spoken |
Spanish 50.0 % |
Chinese 8.3 % |
Hebrew 8.3 % |
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Police Communications Dispatcher Education
| Schools |
|---|
University of Massachusetts - Lowell 7.7 % |
Mesa Community College - Boswell 7.7 % |
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee 7.7 % |
Strayer University 7.7 % |
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| Majors |
Criminal Justice 25.6 % |
Business 14.0 % |
Communication 7.0 % |
Psychology 5.8 % |
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| Degrees |
Bachelors 32.7 % |
Associate 26.7 % |
High School Diploma 19.8 % |
Certificate 7.9 % |
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Entry Level Jobs For Becoming A Police Communications Dispatcher
Top Skills For a Police Communications Dispatcher
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 16.1% of police communications dispatchers listed police department on their resume, but soft skills such as empathy and typing skills are important as well.