Davie County recently issued the following announcement.
Davie County's 911 staff are certified by the International Academy of Emergency Dispatch to properly assess and process law enforcement-related calls based on Priority Software Protocols. This is part of a larger project to enhance the services Davie County's 911 center provides to the community.
The Emergency Police Dispatch (EPD) protocols require all staff to be certified through a 3-day certification course provided by National Academies of Emergency Dispatch (NAED). The training consisted of covering the instructions of each of the 36 protocols, navigation of the protocols, and call-taking techniques to assist 911 Telecommunicators ascertaining essential information.
Rodney Pierce, Director of Davie County 911 Communications, explains that in order to maintain their certification, all 911 telecommunicators must recertify every two years, and complete 24 hours (12 hours annually) of continuing education during this time period, and pass the NAED recertification exam. "The program also requires continual quality improvement (QI) benchmarks that allows us to make positive adjustments to our training, and staff responses to these assessments," he said.
The Emergency Police Dispatch (EPD) protocols works in conjunction with Davie County's already established Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) system. The system enables 911 callers to receive the emergency response while providing, when necessary, the over-the-phone assistance essential to call processing;
• An establishment of a unified standard each caller will receive. The protocol is standardized so every 911 telecommunicator will be operating under the same disciplines that have been established by the NAED as the industry best practice. Other Counties also utilize the NAED Priority Dispatch system to assist in standardization.
• A safe prioritization of responses so agencies can configure to the seriousness of an incident. In cooperation with our local law enforcement, each protocol has been reviewed, and response configurations have been determined based on the callers information and the coding of the protocol.
• Telecommunicators will have certification standards. The NAED requires that a 911 telecommunicator has to be certified, and that certification must be maintained in order to utilize the protocols.
• Quality improvement measurements. Calls will be reviewed by NAED quality assurance standards by staff who have achieved EPD Quality Assurance (QA) Certification. Currently, there are three on staff, the Assistant Director, Training Supervisor, and our Quality Assurance Supervisor, who have achieved this discipline. QA certification is an additional level NAED that allows us to correct and maintain the level NAED requires.
• A reduction of liability because of recognized standards of practice. NAED Priority Dispatch system is a global organization with industry standards based on experts in the 911 telecommunications industries.
"Using North Carolina State 911 approved board founding, this is part of a larger project to enhance the services that our 911 center provides to the community, our next phase will be to incorporate Emergency Fire Dispatch (EFD) protocols after the first of next year. EFP operates under the same premises as EMD, and EPD," said Pierce.
For more information on Davie County's 911 Communications department you can visit https://www.daviecountync.gov/89/911-Center
Original source can be found here.
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