911 call center needs bilingual dispatchers | Polish Interpreting …
TULSA, Okla. – When someone dials 911, the last thing they want is to be put on hold, but that is happening for some people due to a shortage of bilingual dispatchers in Tulsa.
The 911 Public Safety Communications Department stays busy all day long, dealing with all kinds of calls from across Tulsa.
But when calls come in from residents whose primary language is not English, it presents its own unique challenges.
If a bilingual dispatcher isn’t available in the call center, the dispatcher who took the call has to contact a third party language translation service by phone.
A translator will then translate the conversation between the caller and 911 dispatcher.
“Usually it takes 30 seconds for that transaction to occur. So, the person is asked to stay on hold, stay on the line,” said Terry Baxter, interim director of the 911 call center.
Some in the Hispanic community have expressed concerns about this, since every second counts during an emergency.
“The city hasn’t necessarily had a proactive approach of having bilingual speakers as we should have, so we’re trying to rectify that now,” said Baxter.
Attorney and Latino community advocate Marvin Lizama thinks it’s long overdue.
“You never know when you’re going to have say a visitor, a tourist, a college student who’s here on a foreign exchange program who is going to need emergency services,” said Lizama. “The 2010 Census showed us that almost 15 percent of the Tulsa population is Hispanic. So, that’s a significant increase from 10 years ago when it was just well below six percent.”
The city isn’t just looking for bilingual dispatchers.
“At this point in time, we need good workers to come apply and learn how to work in our operations whether they speak Spanish or not,” said Baxter.
To learn more about what it takes to work in the public safety call center, visit the city’s website.
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Article source: http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news/911-call-center-needs-bilingual-dispatchers
Article source: http://polish-interpreting.co.uk/2012/02/20/911-call-center-needs-bilingual-dispatchers/