(Image: Staff photo of the Saint John Police Force headquarters.)
Finding staff continues to be a challenge for the Public Safety Communications Centre in Saint John.
The centre provides dispatching services for the Saint John Police Force and 27 fire departments between Sussex and St. Stephen.
Covering sick time and vacation for current staff is a challenge along with hiring, according to the centre’s manager.
Lois Gorman said training new operators also brings challenges for the centre.
“Whenever we start the training process we have to pull one of our operators out of the centre for a period of time to provide that training. We don’t have anybody outside of the centre that provides that training. No one knows the role better than the operators in the centres,” Gorman said.
Year-end projections have the Public Safety Communications Centre over budget by $145,000 because of overtime expenses.
At Tuesday night’s Saint John Police Commission meeting, board member Doug Jones asked what they are doing to fill the vacancies.
Gorman said they will look for new ways of recruiting people.
“We’ll use our social media platforms more. Bring people in to explain the role. Even though it can be a difficult role to fill, it is a very rewarding job,” Gorman said.
Gorman said if they could fill the available positions, that would eliminate a lot of the overtime costs.
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