RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — They’re the first person you speak with when you need help — yet in some respects, they’re not treated like other first responders.
Unlike law enforcement, firefighters and EMTs, 9-1-1 dispatchers are not eligible for enhanced retirement benefits for hazardous duty. That’s why Virginia lawmakers from both parties have authored bills to change that.
The bills would allow localities to provide enhanced benefits to their dispatchers. However, despite the bipartisan support, the House of Delegates’ bill was effectively killed in a subcommittee.
Lt. Sandy Springle from the Suffolk Police Department says dispatchers should be eligible for enhanced benefits.
“They receive calls from unknown people that are screaming, upset and hysterical,” Springle told 8News. “They may take a call from a mom with a child who is not breathing, and they need to walk that mom through CPR instructions.”
Denice Crowder, who oversees Dinwiddie County’s dispatch center, says that with staffing shortages common around the state, the bill would help with retention.
“If we don’t have enough dispatchers, then the calls will not get answered in a timely manner,” said Crowder. “Then they do not get dispatched in a timely manner, which means there is a delay in the response.”
Lawmakers, who agreed to carry the bill over to 2025, say the hold-up is over funding. Some say that before they can allow localities to pay for the enhanced benefits, they need to figure out how to provide state police with the same.
“What it comes down to is funding,” said Del. Mike Cherry (R-Colonial Heights), who authored the House bill that was killed. “They simply can’t allow the locals to have that option, unless they are going to fund the state portion as well. Because, as you can imagine, if you were a dispatcher and right across the street, they are getting a different enhancement, you are going to go across the street.”
A companion bill is still alive in the Senate for the time being, but any measure would need to come before the same subcommittee that killed the House’s bill before becoming law.
