When residents call 911, Hennepin County wants to make sure there are enough dispatchers to pick up

Jayme Beerling never planned on being a 911 dispatcher.

She finished a master's degree in theater and was headed to Broadway when the pandemic hit and the world shut down. Beerling moved home to Minnesota, and while hunting for work took a pre-application exam that put her on a path to a public safety telecommunicator job with the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.

It's a role she's grown to love.

"It's very stressful, but also incredibly rewarding," said Beerling, who started as a dispatcher in the fall of 2020.

She's one of roughly 50 dispatchers who work at the sheriff's communications facility in Plymouth — a number that may need to grow to keep up with the county's growing population and increasing number of calls for emergency service.

In June, the County Board approved nearly $90,000 for a staffing study with Mission Critical Partners to figure out how many people it will take to ensure that someone picks up when Hennepin County residents dial 911.

Hennepin County takes emergency calls for 39 of the 45 cities in the county, covering about 450 square miles where roughly 525,000 people live. Minneapolis, Edina, St. Louis Park, Eden Prairie, Bloomington, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the University of Minnesota also have their own dispatchers.

Calls have rebounded from a pandemic lull and are back to growing at a rate of 4% a year. In 2023, Hennepin County dispatchers handled almost 300,000 emergency calls and about 400,000 administrative calls.

"Citizens don't care who answers their call; they just care it gets answered," said Tony Martin, director of emergency communications for the sheriff's office.

But emergency dispatch jobs can be tough to fill.

The National Emergency Number Association, which advocates for emergency workers, found in a recent survey that a majority of agencies struggle to fill open positions. About half of those who enter training don't complete it.

April Heinze, chief of 911 operations for the group, said hiring has long been a challenge that was exacerbated by the pandemic and the move to remote work. Hiring is challenging for all types of public safety jobs.

"These are not positions that can be done from home," Heinze said. She added that public safety officials nationwide are working to improve recruiting and offering better pay and benefits to attract staff.

Martin acknowledged that Hennepin County is not immune from the national challenges in hiring and retaining dispatchers.

"There are a lot of people who want to do this work who mentally or physically can't because it is so demanding," Martin said. "We are talking to people on their worst day."

While the Plymouth facility is close to fully staffed now, Martin said it is clear they will need more dispatchers in the future, so he wants to have a detailed plan.

Beerling agrees. She understands why it can be tough to find candidates, because the job is intense and requires multitasking under pressure.

"You have the cops in one ear and a caller in the other," she explained. "You can't say 'no one is dying.' People are — what we do matters and seconds count."

Nevertheless, Beerling is not planning to leave her job for Broadway. She encourages anyone who is interested in a job helping people to see if they might be a good fit.

Beerling also has a message for residents if they ever need to call 911: "Know your location. I can't help you if I don't know where you are," she said.