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Cochise County highlights 911 dispatch upgrades, staffing gains at CECOM
Summary
CECOM director Tammy Jo Wilkins told KWCD listeners that Cochise County's consolidated 9-1-1 dispatch center now staffs 24 people, uses text-to-911 and Spillman CAD, and is running public hiring and training steps to sustain operations.
CECOM Director Tammy Jo Wilkins said Cochise County's consolidated 9-1-1 dispatch center has increased staffing and modernized operations, and she urged residents to use the county nonemergency number for non-urgent matters.
Wilkins, speaking on KWCD's First Watch, said CECOM now has a team of 24 people covering full- and part-time roles, including records and background staff, and a 9-1-1 addressing coordinator. "We take the 911 calls for the entire community except for the Benson and the Douglas areas," she said, and the center dispatches for nine law enforcement agencies and 17 fire/EMS services using priority dispatch protocols and the Spillman CAD system.
Wilkins said text-to-911 has been available in the center for about two years and is increasingly used when callers cannot speak or have poor cellular reception. She described a multilayered hiring process that includes online testing, interviews, an oral board, background checks, a voice stress analysis, a psych evaluation and drug and hearing tests — steps she called necessary for public-safety-sensitive positions. "Once you get through the process and you get a start date, we invest in you," she said.
Wilkins asked the public to use the county's nonemergency number for routine requests and said it received roughly 85,000 calls to the center last year, about 55,000 of them on 911. She added that callers should not be discouraged from dialing 911 for true emergencies and explained that call-takers ask many questions to protect both callers and first responders.
The director said CECOM will post job openings on the Cochise County Human Resources page and will share informational and celebratory material on the center's Facebook page, CECOM 911. "We will be posting a lot of really good information over the next week," she said, noting a National Telecommunications Appreciation Week recognition planned for dispatch staff.
CECOM's staffing gains and technology updates reflect the center's two-year effort to consolidate and professionalize dispatch across multiple agencies, Wilkins said. She credited partner agencies and the center's training regimen for recent progress.
Looking ahead, Wilkins invited residents to follow CECOM's social media and to consider applying for positions; she emphasized the center's role as both a public-safety asset and a protector of first responders' safety.
