Whether park rangers are actually law enforcement does depend a bit on the agency. I know state parks in my state have probably about 2 or 3 different positions where the job title is some variation on “ranger” but only one of them is actually law enforcement, and the others positions are just general park employees. I applied for and didn’t get one of those jobs, and I’m kind of glad because I would have probably ended up stuck doing something like working the cash register at the park campground pool, and that’s not exactly what I wanted to be a ranger for.
As far as burnout, it’s a real issue in our profession, we have a lot of turnover and that’s one of the reasons. I think i’m pretty well equipped to deal with the stress and definitely not everyone is, but I’d be lying if I said every once in a while I don’t start feeling really fed up with everything, but I feel like I have a pretty solid support system and coping strategies, and so far at least, I always bounce back just fine, usually even better that I was before with new tools and strategies to deal with whatever comes my way. I don’t think I’ve seen it all, even our veterans who have been here 30+ years can’t really say that, there’s always something new and insane happening, but after about 5 years, I’ve seen a little bit of just about everything, so I’m pretty confident that if/when I leave here, it’s not going to be because the job got to me.
Little bit of an aside - at the federal level in the US, 911 dispatchers are classified as clerical staff, basically the same as a secretary or other regular office workers, not as protective services like most first responders. That can have an effect on what kind of benefits we’re entitled to, when we’re able to retire, how much we get paid, etc. There have been a few bills introduced to change that classification but none have quite made it all the way to being signed into law. I, personally, don’t much care if we get full recognition as “first responders” (although the little PR catchphrase that we are the “first first responders” has a nice ring to it) but given the types of stress involved in our line of work, I do think our benefits and such should be more in-line with them than with normal office staff. Some states and agencies do a better job of recognizing that than others, I think the place I work does a pretty decent job of it, but changing the federal classification could really help out a lot of dispatchers and reduce burnout and turnover, and in turn makes us better able to serve the public. I believe the most recent version of that bill I remember hearing about was called the 911 SAVES act if you want to read up on it and contact your elected officials if that’s something you support.
Thank you for your reply. Yeah, I’ve often heard that 911 dispatchers are often put by the wayside and not compensated and taken care of how they should be. And so I’ll occasionally stumble into recordings of calls where the operator was clearly not trained properly or burnt out, which has an effect on their quality of response. It sucks because you guys play a vital role and we all appreciate what you do. I hope you give yourself time to unwind now and then and I hope that your field becomes more recognized in the same vein as being a first reponder. Wishing you all the best.
Yeah, there’s a lot of areas I really wouldn’t want to have an emergency in because of their 911 centers, if I talked to callers the way some dispatchers in other areas do or was as sloppy with my work I’d probably be fired on the spot. I’d feel like I’m in pretty good hands no matter who answers the phone here, but some places are downright terrifying to deal with.
It’s not an excuse, but some of it isn’t entirely the dispatchers’ faults, basically every dispatch center in the country is always short staffed (mine included, though we’re not too bad) but some are really desperate for staffing so you run into the choice of either rushing people through training or just not having people to to answer the phone when it rings (I over waited on the line with someone for over 20 minutes waiting for the call to be answered while I transferred them to another agency because they were calling for someone in that area, that’s an extreme case of course, but.) Not really surprising that some places suck when you have a bunch of overworked, underpaid, half-trained people trying to handle emergencies.
Whether park rangers are actually law enforcement does depend a bit on the agency. I know state parks in my state have probably about 2 or 3 different positions where the job title is some variation on “ranger” but only one of them is actually law enforcement, and the others positions are just general park employees. I applied for and didn’t get one of those jobs, and I’m kind of glad because I would have probably ended up stuck doing something like working the cash register at the park campground pool, and that’s not exactly what I wanted to be a ranger for.
As far as burnout, it’s a real issue in our profession, we have a lot of turnover and that’s one of the reasons. I think i’m pretty well equipped to deal with the stress and definitely not everyone is, but I’d be lying if I said every once in a while I don’t start feeling really fed up with everything, but I feel like I have a pretty solid support system and coping strategies, and so far at least, I always bounce back just fine, usually even better that I was before with new tools and strategies to deal with whatever comes my way. I don’t think I’ve seen it all, even our veterans who have been here 30+ years can’t really say that, there’s always something new and insane happening, but after about 5 years, I’ve seen a little bit of just about everything, so I’m pretty confident that if/when I leave here, it’s not going to be because the job got to me.
Little bit of an aside - at the federal level in the US, 911 dispatchers are classified as clerical staff, basically the same as a secretary or other regular office workers, not as protective services like most first responders. That can have an effect on what kind of benefits we’re entitled to, when we’re able to retire, how much we get paid, etc. There have been a few bills introduced to change that classification but none have quite made it all the way to being signed into law. I, personally, don’t much care if we get full recognition as “first responders” (although the little PR catchphrase that we are the “first first responders” has a nice ring to it) but given the types of stress involved in our line of work, I do think our benefits and such should be more in-line with them than with normal office staff. Some states and agencies do a better job of recognizing that than others, I think the place I work does a pretty decent job of it, but changing the federal classification could really help out a lot of dispatchers and reduce burnout and turnover, and in turn makes us better able to serve the public. I believe the most recent version of that bill I remember hearing about was called the 911 SAVES act if you want to read up on it and contact your elected officials if that’s something you support.
Thank you for your reply. Yeah, I’ve often heard that 911 dispatchers are often put by the wayside and not compensated and taken care of how they should be. And so I’ll occasionally stumble into recordings of calls where the operator was clearly not trained properly or burnt out, which has an effect on their quality of response. It sucks because you guys play a vital role and we all appreciate what you do. I hope you give yourself time to unwind now and then and I hope that your field becomes more recognized in the same vein as being a first reponder. Wishing you all the best.
Yeah, there’s a lot of areas I really wouldn’t want to have an emergency in because of their 911 centers, if I talked to callers the way some dispatchers in other areas do or was as sloppy with my work I’d probably be fired on the spot. I’d feel like I’m in pretty good hands no matter who answers the phone here, but some places are downright terrifying to deal with.
It’s not an excuse, but some of it isn’t entirely the dispatchers’ faults, basically every dispatch center in the country is always short staffed (mine included, though we’re not too bad) but some are really desperate for staffing so you run into the choice of either rushing people through training or just not having people to to answer the phone when it rings (I over waited on the line with someone for over 20 minutes waiting for the call to be answered while I transferred them to another agency because they were calling for someone in that area, that’s an extreme case of course, but.) Not really surprising that some places suck when you have a bunch of overworked, underpaid, half-trained people trying to handle emergencies.