Sy-call Handler/dispatch Operator

**Role: Call Handler and Dispatch Operator**

**Department: Force Control Room**

**Location: Atlas Court, Sheffield**

**Salary: £27,747- £30,468 (plus 20% shift and weekend working allowance)**

**Hours: 37**

**Contract Type: Permanent**

This is an exciting opportunity to join South Yorkshire Police as a Call Handler and also receive training for the role of a Dispatch Operator. As part of a dedicated team, you will be the first point of contact for all types of contacts from the public and other agencies, including 999, 101, crime reports, intelligence and general enquiries including both telephone and electronic media. You will be responsible for identifying and assessing risk and make resolution and deployment decisions using a range of systems. You will also allocate resources to incidents and support them in any radio transmissions.

You will be part of the wider policing family helping to keep South Yorkshire safe as well as part of a team of great people. Most people join the police service because they want to help others and make a difference to people’s lives. Working in the Force Control Room, there is no doubt that you will be making a difference - every day.

Therefore, we are looking for motivated people who are excellent team players with the ability, after training, to work unsupervised and use their own initiative. To be successful in the role, you will need excellent verbal communications skills, but you will also need the ability to:
**Multi
- task**- to be able to type at the same time as listening, speaking and entering data onto systems in a timely way. You should also be able to think ahead, and risk assess a situation by asking the right questions.

**Demonstrate resilience**- the ability to respond to and recover from difficult situations.

You will be based on Atlas Court, Sheffield which is located 5 minutes from Sheffield City Centre and Meadowhall.

You **must**be prepared to work shifts and bank holidays with the service operating 24/7, 365 days of the year.

**Working a 24/7 shift pattern, full time or job share, attracts a salary of £27,747 - £30,468 (pro-rata for job share hours) and 20% shift allowance and weekend working taking the starting pay to approximately £37,180 (pro rata job share).**

**As a Call Handler and Dispatch Operator you will be responsible for**:

- Receiving and critically assessing all types of contacts including 999, 101 and other types of contacts, by telephone or online, from the general public, police and other agencies.
- Identifying the purpose and nature of each contact by eliciting relevant and sufficient information to enable an accurate and timely assessment of appropriate means of resolution.
- Assessing risk and identifying the appropriate action to resolve or determine the appropriate agency, deployment grading and priority of contacts.
- Maintaining accurate records of relevant information using appropriate systems to ensure an audit trail and to measure and improve performance.
- Operating the Airwave network, linked to operational patrols within the guidelines and procedures of the Force.
- Deploying resources to incidents within the guidelines and procedures of the Force.
- Operating message systems and others including maintaining a watch on internal messages.

**Skills and experience**:

- Excellent Communication skills with the ability to listen, empathise and provide support.
- Excellent Communication skills with the ability to adapt language to meet the needs of different people/audiences.
- Experience of information gathering and problem solving.
- Able to utilise IT packages, systems and/or databases.
- Able to appropriately prioritise and plan own work.
- Ability to work under pressure, making logical and appropriate decisions.

**to view the role profile.**

**What we offer**:
We offer generous entitlements and supportive policies to enable a better work-life balance, some of which are listed below:

- A highly competitive salary and access to a generous pension scheme
- Generous annual leave allowance, starting at 29 days per year
- A wide range of family friendly policies including enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave
- Flexible working arrangements including flexi-time and hybrid working
- A transparent and collaborative team culture underpinned by our core values of Fairness, Integrity & Trust
- Comprehensive range of development and leadership courses to develop your career with South Yorkshire Police
- Employee Assistant Programme (accessible 24/7) offering confidential support and advice
- Flexible lifestyle benefits such as: Blue Light Card, Company Shop, Cycle to work scheme
- Committed to embedding sustainability: South Yorkshire Police Sustainability Strategy 2020-2025 (yhrn.police)
- Membership to the Sports and Social Club
- Access to a wide range of staff support groups and networks

**Eligibility**:
**Appearance & Standards**:
South Yorkshire Police is committed to striking a proportionate balanc