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Dispatchers who handle 911 calls, give lifesaving information to people in crisis and coordinate responses fall under the same occupational category as customer service representatives, receptionists, secretaries, typists and insurance claims clerks.   

That’s according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which classifies workers based on its Standard Occupational Classification System. 

But dispatchers are hopeful this will be the year they’re officially recognized as first responders — something those in the field say is long overdue. 

The , a bill before Congress that would take dispatchers out of the occupational category with clerical workers and place them under “protective service occupations,” has bipartisan support and is waiting to be heard by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

Dispatchers around the country have been fighting to have their profession reclassified for years. The issue has taken on greater importance locally since the Aug. 8 wildfires, when a team of eight emergency dispatchers on Maui fielded more than 4,200 calls in a single evening.

The bill’s passage would give dispatchers well-deserved recognition for the essential role they play in emergency response, Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said. It would also help them negotiate better benefits and higher wages, which he said are sorely needed.

In a department with 65% of its dispatcher positions currently vacant, the reclassification would help with recruitment as well, he said.

“We want to make sure we’re compensating, protecting and recognizing our folks,” he said. “We really do have a great career to offer folks. We’re looking at everything we can to make it as desirable as possible.”

‘We Get Paid Peanuts’

Correction: An earlier version of this story contained incorrect salary information for entry-level dispatchers on Hawaii island. The story has been updated.

In Hawaii, entry-level salaries for dispatchers are $57,456 on Kauai, $50,388 in Honolulu, $48,456 in Maui County and $50,388 on Hawaii island, according to each county’s police department. 

Emergency police dispatchers are represented by the Hawaii Government Employees Association and share a collective bargaining unit with clerical workers like tax returns examiners, human resources workers and X-ray technicians. 

While they may earn decent pay within their category, dispatchers argue their salaries are low compared to first responders. 

Beginning police officers, for example, earn $72,384 in Kauai, Maui and Hawaii counties and $75,240 in Honolulu. 

“We’re probably one of the top earners as a secretary for the City and County of Honolulu if you look at it like that,” said Lakea Tjomsland, a dispatcher for the Honolulu Police Department. “But if you look at us as a first responder … we get paid peanuts compared to them.” 

Tjomsland said she was speaking as an individual and not as a representative of the police department. 

Tjomsland, who has also served as a union representative for the HGEA, said if dispatchers were reclassified, they could be bumped into a bargaining unit with other first responders and possibly be able to negotiate for a salary increase of $10,000 or more per year. 

Dispatchers say their duties are far different from those of clerical workers, and their pay should reflect that. 

“The emergency medical dispatcher is the first responder because they have protocols that they can implement prior to anybody on the ground getting to the scene,” said Patty Dukes, a Hawaii paramedic who worked part-time as an Emergency Medical Services dispatcher for nearly 25 years. “Childbirth, CPR, epinephrine administration for anaphylactic shock, stuff like that, they are first responders in many senses of the word.”

California Rep. Norma Torres, who worked as a 911 dispatcher for the Los Angeles Police Department for over 17 years, first introduced the to reclassify dispatchers nationally four years ago. She said the secretarial classification has followed them since the early days of the profession when dispatchers would answer calls and take down information before handing the phone to a first responder. But since the creation of the modern 911 system in 1968, their duties have evolved substantially, as has the technology they’re required to use.

“The only thing that has not completely evolved is it continues to be primarily female workers in this industry,” she said, “and I think it’s more of a sexist approach” that working conditions and the classification have not improved.

Those in the field say low pay and lack of recognition are major issues contributing to the staffing shortages plaguing dispatch centers around the nation. 

“People have left to be makeup artists and they make more money than we do,” Tjomsland said.

Staffing Shortages

About 82% of dispatch centers nationally say they are with recruitment and retention, according to a 2023 survey from the National Emergency Number Association, a nonprofit focused on policies affecting 911 operations. 

The Maui Police Department has 32 dispatcher vacancies, according to department spokeswoman Alana Pico. On staff are 13 dispatchers, three supervisors and one EMS dispatch coordinator. 

Hawaii island has 14 vacancies out of 44 positions, Honolulu has 50 vacancies out of 143 positions and Kauai has 10 vacancies out of 20 positions, according to each police department. 

Tjomsland said staffing issues have taken a “very stressful job and made it tenfold.” 

She said emergency dispatchers can be required to stay an extra four hours after their shift if things get busy. While this used to happen once or twice a month, it’s now occurring weekly, she said. 

“It’s created a position where you don’t really have a break in the calls,” she said. “There’s a sense of we’re failing because at times there’s people on hold.”

The Debate Over Reclassification

The Enhancing First Response Act combines the 911 SAVES Act and the Emergency Reporting Act, which would require the Federal Communications Commission to report 911 outages after major disasters and recommend improvements to the system to prevent disruptions. 

If the bill passes, it wouldn’t automatically reclassify dispatchers at the state level or guarantee them higher pay, but it would give local governments the opportunity to reevaluate how their dispatchers are categorized and compensated, said Brian Fontes, president and CEO of the National Emergency Number Association. 

A measure introduced at the state level last year, , which would have reclassified dispatchers as first responders in Hawaii, was carried over to this year’s session but died in the Senate Labor and Technology Committee.

Dozens of dispatchers, law enforcement agencies and emergency services professionals submitted testimony in support. 

But the Office of Collective Bargaining opposed the measure, saying in written testimony that separating dispatchers from state employees who perform what it described as “similar functions” was not necessary and that a review of classification and compensation schedules found that the dispatchers were properly categorized. 

The City and County of Honolulu also opposed the measure because it would have created a new bargaining unit for dispatchers. The city wrote in testimony that it was concerned about the increased costs and complexities of establishing, negotiating and managing another bargaining unit and contract. 

Spokesman Scott Humber said in a statement that the Enhancing First Response Act would not impact the city’s classification of dispatchers. 

“While we agree that 911 dispatchers play a critical role in the emergency response, viewing them as first responders at the federal level would not necessarily change the duties or responsibilities at our local level, and these are the criteria upon which their classification is based,” the statement said. 

But Fontes said state reclassification can more easily follow if it happens first on the national level.

Pelletier, who said his department’s dispatchers earned the Outstanding Call Center award this year from the NG9-1-1 Institute, a national nonprofit working on 911 issues, called the continued classification of dispatchers as clerks a “slap in the face.” 

“We’ve had dispatchers who have delivered babies over the phone,” he said. “We know they save lives. We saw that on Aug. 8, but we see it every day.”