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Can You Be All That You Can Be?
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HPD!
What does it take to become a Police Radio Dispatcher? First of all, this is more than just a job. It’s a way of life. By signing on the dotted line, an applicant basically is committing themselves to a 30-year career with the Honolulu Police Department. If you do the math, this is roughly one third of a person’s lifetime.
The hurdles to get into the Honolulu Police Department are innumerable to mention here, but the application/selection process goes something like this:
- Apply online via honolulupd.org.
- Later you will take the civil service exam.
- Those who pass will be invited to an orientation – weeks or months later.
- Orientation – you will meet the Career Center Staff, and
begin the processing phase.
At orientation (right photo), you will learn about the unique
challenges of the job. Not too many job recruiters will tell you
up front that
this is one of the most challenging and stressful civil service jobs.
Even police officers agree that the stress of being a dispatcher
is similar, if not worse in some cases to that of being a police
officer.
It’s not a dangerous job, but it is filled with its own unique
challenges.
If you’re good at multi-tasking, you’ll be good at
this job. A dispatcher sits in front of five monitors and numerous
keyboards
(left photo). Each of these monitors has critical information that
you must track. Not only will you have to maintain and update the
information, which is constantly changing, you will also be monitoring
and keeping
track of all the officers in a given district. Currently, we have
eight uniformed patrol districts. Once you have been trained, you
will be
running a console for one of these districts.The stress comes, not from multi-tasking and updating the status of all the officers in the district, but from managing all their requests and inquiries. You could simultaneously have an officer requesting information on a suspect in a traffic stop, while another officer at another location requests a warrant check on a burglary suspect. This is a mild scenario. Our dispatchers could handle this situation with ease. It’s when there’s constant chatter on the radio, and numerous things going on that a dispatcher feels the stress. Don’t worry, in most instances, you’ll have a backup and other staffing to assist, but it will be you on the radio responding to the beat officer.
Your efficiency and ability to quickly multi-task is an essential
part of this job. Police officers rely heavily on a dispatcher’s
ability to process information and relay information as quickly as
possible. For the police officer who is faced with a combative or
disorderly suspect, it’s important to obtain the information
as soon as possible so the officer can make a decision and take action.
Also, at the same time the officer probably needs backup, so you’ll
not only be getting information about the suspect, but you’ll
be calling the officer's beat partners to cover him or her off.
Okay, now back to the application process.
- You will be instructed to fill out a Personal History Questionnaire “PHQ”,
which requires applicants to list every job and residence they’ve
had in the last ten years. You will also be required to disclose
any and all criminal and traffic infractions in your lifetime.
Filling out the lengthy PHQ discourages many from applying. Some don’t even make it past this phase because it truly is a tedious process. Many applicants wonder why we require such a thorough accounting of a person’s life. Here’s my explanation: We are the Honolulu Police Department. We deal with highly confidential matters and are responsible for public safety. We are required to possess the highest integrity, moral and ethical standards possible. In essence, filling out the PHQ is an applicant’s first test of Integrity. If you can fill it out completely and truthfully, then you have passed the first Integrity test. As a recruiter, I can tell you that the manner in which an applicant fills out their PHQ is a very important gauge in telling if an applicant is worthy to proceed to the next processing phase. Many will try to lie and cheat their way through the PHQ, but I can tell you from personal experience that those whose integrity is questionable will not make it through the process.
If an applicant gets past the PHQ and follow-up interviews (left photo)
with the Career Center Detective, they must then face another battery
of psychological tests and meet with the department’s psychologist.
No, we’re not really trying to see if you’re off the deep
end. We’re simply trying to see if you have the psychological
traits of a police radio dispatcher. We’re trying to see if you
can, from a psychological standpoint, survive the rigors of this job.
If you pass the psychological tests, you will then be sent on to the polygraph. If you can’t tell by now, each stage is testing your suitability, integrity and dedication. The polygraph is perhaps the last, yet ultimate test of integrity. You will be asked to respond to a number of critical questions. Don’t make the polygraph exam your time for confession. That should have been done at the PHQ stage.
This might seem to be an arduous process, but for those who succeed,
the job can be quite challenging and rewarding. Believe me when I say
you will never experience a job quite like this one. Good luck. We
sincerely hope you have what it takes.
