COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Crystal Teamer experienced stressful situations when she worked as a flight attendant. Nothing though that compares to the stress she deals with in her current position as a Columbus Police 9-1-1 dispatcher.

“I had a call last week, it bothered me,” Teamer says. “I cried when I got home. That’s OK but you can’t let that bother you every single day. You can’t take everything personal.”

Teamer is in her sixth year on the job. She says once you figure out how to deal with the stress, it’s a good job. “It’s also rewarding to help the officers when they are in a stressful situation – pretty much be their angel and take care of everything for them – it’s a rewarding job.”

The Division of Police has openings for 16 dispatchers. They hope to start a new class in May that will include about six months of paid training. Starting pay is $23.60 per hour.

Supervisor Chris Lyman says the job is not for everyone. It’s high stress and fast paced. “We hire a lot of folks who are excellent employees but they just can’t necessarily perform the job functions of being a 911 dispatcher,” Lyman said. “We do have some folks who go all the way to retirement and do 30 years with the city but…we also have folks at five or six years, they kind of experience burnout and they experience that crisis fatigue.”

The Division is hosting information sessions for anyone interested in applying for a dispatcher position.

Saturday January 25th at Noon

Tuesday January 28th at 9am

Wednesday January 29th at 5pm

The sessions will be held at the Columbus Police Academy, 1000 N Hague Ave.