Responding to calls for help as a 911 operator working out of the Nampa Police Dispatch Center, it will be your duty to quickly ascertain the nature of emergency situations, elicit facts from callers, and send the appropriate fire, ambulance, or police units.
If you have the skills and dedication to successfully navigate the hiring process with the City of Nampa, you will join a team of 16 full-time dispatchers who in a recent year handled over 300,000 calls for service. Working in one of the busiest emergency dispatch centers in the state, you will have no lack of opportunity to demonstrate your acquired skills and learn new ones.
As you look into how to become a 911 operator consider these steps:
 | Education Opportunities |
 | Apply with the City of Nampa |
 | Training Requirements |
Step 1. Education Opportunities
While you are considering ways to improve your initial application, you will find that having a college degree can help your career prospects with the Nampa Police Department. You will find relevant degree opportunities on several local college campuses located in the Nampa vicinity and additionally through web-based institutions offering programs including:
- Emergency Management, where you will learn about EM preparations, response, command structure, and critical infrastructure
- Homeland Security, related to EM but with an added focus on the law enforcement and the executive side of EM, and especially the threats posed by terrorism
- Law Enforcement, which provides you with a knowledge of the inner workings and operations of police and sheriff departments
- Communications, where you will learn a range of skills that will make you a highly effective dispatcher
Step 2. Apply with the City of Nampa
Once you have augmented your credentials with a relevant degree you will be ready to submit a competitive application to the City of Nampa. First check the city’s employment website to see if there are any openings for 911 dispatchers.
If there are openings you can create an online résumé and apply through the job announcement. If not, you will need to periodically recheck the employment website. Visit the Office of Human Resources at 411 3rd Street South or call for more information about when the next round of hiring will take place: (208) 468-5437.
After your application is successfully submitted and selected, you will go through the rest of the hiring process, which includes:
- Typing test which you must pass at 40 wpm with 92 percent accuracy
- Multitasking test
- Polygraph examination
- FBI and criminal background check
- Oral board evaluation
Step 3. Training Requirements
You will participate in the following 911 dispatcher training upon being hired:
- Idaho Peace Officer Standards and Training Dispatcher Academy, which includes courses covering:
- Fire dispatching
- GPS and map reading
- CPR, first aid, birthing
- Law enforcement dispatching
- Emergency medical dispatching
- Electronic communication technology
- Dealing with stress and verbally abusive callers
After you are hired as a 911 dispatcher at the Nampa Police Dispatch Center you can focus on developing your career. There are several agencies in the Nampa area that offer related educational and training opportunities, which you can use for networking with colleagues and to make yourself a better emergency dispatcher. These include: