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Southeastern Arizona 911 center outlines call volumes, HR shift to Cochise County and hiring steps
Summary
Tammy Jo Wilkins, director of the countys regional 911 center, described call volumes, upcoming radio interoperability upgrades, a January transfer of human-resources duties to Cochise County and the telecommunicator hiring process.
Tammy Jo Wilkins, director of the Southeastern Arizona Communications Center (SECOM), told KWCDFirst Watch that SECOM handles 911 calls for nearly all of Cochise County and is preparing for statewide radio interoperability and expanded capacity.
"We currently take 911 calls for the entire county, 6,000 square miles, except for Douglas and Benson area at this time," Wilkins said. She gave annual call statistics for the center: 195,723 total calls in the system last year, including 50,479 calls that were 911.
Wilkins said the center currently supports 10 fully functional consoles and 10 paid 911 positions funded in part by a state 911 office grant. She said an interoperability upgrade to the radio system is planned for the summer through a grant obtained by the Cochise County sheriff, which would allow agencies statewide to communicate on the same radio platform.
On staffing and administration, Wilkins described a governance and human-resources change: SECOM operates as a Joint Powers Authority with multiple subscribers, including Cochise County and the City of Sierra Vista. She said the City of Sierra Vista performed human-resources duties in the past but returned those duties to Cochise County under a rewritten intergovernmental agreement. "January 1, that transition occurred," Wilkins said, and she said a small number of employees remained city employees while most staff and new hires will be Cochise County employees.
Wilkins outlined the hiring process for telecommunicators: applicants first complete an online application and a CritiCall test, followed by an initial interview, an oral board, and then background, psychological screening, hearing and drug tests before a hire day. She said the county received more than 72 applicants after posting the job in January.
She also emphasized when to call 911 vs. the SECOM nonemergency number: "If you have a life threatening emergency, please dial 911," Wilkins said. For nonemergencies she provided the SECOM number as (520) 803-3550.
Wilkins said April is Telecommunications Appreciation Month and that SECOM has been expanding capacity and adding consoles in anticipation of greater regional participation in the center.
