We Can’t Keep Training 911 Dispatchers the Way We Always Have

If I threw a dart at a map of dispatch centers, I’d bet my paycheck that wherever it landed, that center is currently going through—or has recently experienced—the pain of hiring a candidate, putting them through training, and watching them not make it.

It’s a frustratingly familiar cycle. The hiring process takes time, training takes resources, and experienced dispatchers invest countless hours trying to help someone succeed. When that person doesn’t make it through training, you’re back to square one.

And the numbers suggest this isn’t an isolated problem.

Carbyne’s The Pulse of 9-1-1 2025 report found that 22% of trainees at surveyed agencies did not complete their training programs, up five percentage points from 17% in the previous reporting period.

That’s a significant number of people who start the journey toward becoming a dispatcher but don’t make it to the other side.

The bottom line? We can’t keep training dispatchers the way we’ve always trained them.

We need to adapt. And perhaps just as importantly, departments need to invest financially in the tools and resources that give trainees a better opportunity to succeed.

Staffing Starts with Training

One of the biggest ways to improve morale and reduce turnover in a communications center is to improve staffing. Better staffing can mean less mandatory overtime. Less mandatory overtime can help reduce fatigue and burnout, which can contribute to sick calls and additional staffing shortages.

It’s a cycle that feeds itself.

And while training isn’t the only piece of the staffing puzzle, hiring the right candidates and creating an environment where they can successfully complete training is one place we can make a difference.

So, how do we do that?

I think one of the challenges we need to talk about is how little opportunity trainees have to practice the real thing before they’re expected to do it for real.

One of the only ways to practice answering a 911 call is to answer a 911 call.

Think about that for a second. You Can’t Predict What’s on the Other End of the Line

I remember a moment with one of our trainees this past year. The trainer was right there, closely monitoring and ready to guide them through answering their first 911 call.

And then—bam. The call turned out to be a shooting.

The trainer ended up taking over and finishing the call.

That moment stuck with me because it highlights one of the biggest challenges in training a 911 dispatcher: unpredictability.

You can prepare someone for call-taking procedures, teach them the questions they need to ask, and walk them through scenarios in a classroom. But you can’t guarantee that their first exposure to a particular type of emergency will happen when they’re ready for it.

A trainee might spend days answering routine calls and then suddenly hear someone say they’ve been shot, their loved one isn’t breathing, or someone has been hit by a car.

And they’re expected to gather critical information, follow protocol, make decisions, and remain composed.

All while learning a job they’ve never done before.

What Happens to Your Body When You Answer a 911 Call?

When a 911 dispatcher answers an emergency call, the body may activate its stress response as the brain processes the urgency, distress, and potential threat described by the caller. The sympathetic nervous system can trigger physiological changes. Even after a call ends, the body's stress response may take time to settle, particularly when another demanding call follows immediately (Shields et al., 2016).

Now imagine experiencing that for the first time ever as a trainee.

In short, it’s a lot.

And while stress is an unavoidable part of this profession, I think we should be asking ourselves whether we’re doing enough to help trainees prepare for it before they’re thrown into the deep end.

What if we could give them a chance to become familiar with these situations in a controlled environment first? What if they could practice handling low-frequency, high-impact calls before they ever had to manage one on a live line?

I believe that kind of preparation could make a meaningful difference in how we train dispatchers.

Enter AI Training Tools

One way to help bridge that gap is through AI-powered training tools.

Yes, I know. AI can be a scary word, and I’m not suggesting technology can replace an experienced trainer.

But I do think we should be open to tools that can give trainees more opportunities to practice, make mistakes, receive feedback, and build confidence before the stakes are real.

And here comes the shameless plug: we partner with ThisGen911.

As a current dispatch supervisor who also runs First Call Ready as my side gig, I know firsthand how important it is to be intentional about the companies we choose to work with through First Call Ready. Companies that prioritize supporting the 911 dispatchers.

ThisGen911 is one of those companies.

They offer a variety of tools that can support communications centers, but for the sake of this article, I want to focus on two in particular: AI 911 Training and AI Radio Training.

These tools offer opportunities to practice scenarios in a simulated environment, giving trainees additional exposure to the types of situations they may encounter on the job.

Instead of waiting for a high stakes call to come through a live 911 line, trainees can work through simulated scenarios and build familiarity with the process. And with radio training, they can practice another critical skill set before having to navigate the pressure of real-time radio traffic.

That additional practice matters. It gives trainers another way to introduce challenging situations, reinforce procedures, and identify areas where a trainee needs more support.

Most importantly, it creates opportunities to practice that simply may not exist in a traditional training environment.

More practice doesn't guarantee that every trainee will pass. But it gives us another way to prepare them for the job we're asking them to do.

We Have to Be Willing to Do Things Differently

At the end of the day, no training tool is going to eliminate the unpredictability of 911. There will always be calls that challenge us, situations we couldn't have anticipated, and moments when a trainee needs their trainer to guide them.

That's part of the job.

But I don't think we should accept that a trainee's first exposure to a critical incident has to happen on a live call simply because that's how we've always done it.

We owe it to our trainees, our trainers, and the communities we serve to continually look at how we can improve the way we prepare people for this profession.

That means being willing to rethink our training methods, invest in additional resources, and give trainees more opportunities to develop their skills before they're expected to perform under pressure.

Because when we lose a trainee, we're not just losing a candidate. We're losing the time, effort, and resources invested in that person—and we're missing out on someone who might have become an incredible dispatcher with the right preparation and support.

We can't guarantee that everyone we hire will make it through training. But we can take a hard look at whether we're giving them the best possible chance.

If we want to improve staffing, we have to improve training. And if we want to improve training, we have to be willing to do things differently.

That's a conversation worth having.

Interested in learning more about Thisgen911 follow this link to access a sample set of AI simulated 911 calls and radio traffic.