Jennifer Savely is a dispatcher for the Kenai Police Department in Alaska.
Jennifer has always been interested in dispatch, and when the opportunity presented itself, the Alaskan native didn’t hesitate to apply. Jennifer’s interest in public safety was cultivated at a young age. “Growing up in my household, it was not uncommon for us to have a police scanner on. Just as background noise, and I always found it intriguing. I loved the excitement and wanted to be the voice behind the radio.”
Acting on that interest, Jennifer joined the Kenai Police Department. “I had no previous experience, so I never thought anything would come of it.” Since joining the Kenai Police Department in February 2014, Jennifer has experienced a number of wonderful things. Although she never imagined dispatching to be a jumping-off point for another career, Jennifer developed an interest in other career fields in public safety. As time went on, Jennifer found herself exploring different avenues in public safety and spent about three years as a Probation Officer. After starting her family, Jennifer concluded her career as Probation Officer, prioritizing her family. Despite her hiatus from dispatch, there was no avoiding her calling, and after a couple of years, she returned to Kenai Police Department as a dispatcher.
That calling and interest are often hard to describe or articulate. When asked why she believes people apply for this type of work, Jennifer responded, “I am still trying to figure out that answer. After being on several interview panels over the years, I have heard a multitude of answers. Some people say they want to help the community, and others say they saw the listing and applied. I think there is a general lack of knowledge about what a dispatcher really does.”
Jennifer is working diligently in her community to make a positive impact, raise awareness, and provide education as the profession advances. Jennifer’s unique contributions to her center reflect her commitment to her work. Jennifer likes to volunteer for special projects to learn all aspects of the job. Jennifer is excited about the future of public safety as she observes increased interest. “I see others in my age group more open to learning new tasks that aren’t necessarily in their job description.”
Jennifer is responsible for several projects at her agency, including NIBRS reports and closing out case files for the police. She describes a typical day as an adventure and shares that many aspects are routine, but remaining in the trenches with her co-workers a day in dispatch is anything but mundane.
Jennifer shared her admiration for her team and stated, “Right now, the most enjoyable thing about my job is the people I work with. We have a great dispatch group, and the officers are awesome to work with. My favorite thing about dispatching is being able to keep the officers safe.”
Recognizing field responder safety is paramount, Jennifer’s hopes and aspirations include “passing along knowledge to people about dispatch and police officers. It is such a misunderstood field, and everyone has their own opinion. Being in dispatch, I think we become almost protective of our officers. It hurts to see how the media and public view them, and I like to educate whenever the opportunity comes up.”
Jennifer takes all of her responsibilities seriously, and as a Certified Training Officer, she offers her help and advice to new hires going through training, even if she is not their CTO. She develops the young professionals at her agency by providing support and mentorship. Jennifer is no stranger to the onboarding challenges and vividly recalls what it was like and how overwhelming the experience can be. Her advice is simple, “Stick it out through training. Training is very difficult, but if you make it through, it’s very worth it. On the other hand, I would also say if a new dispatcher feels in their heart that this job isn’t for them, it is more respectful to recognize that and bow out than possibly get someone hurt.”
Jennifer shared that often, just being present and allowing others to share makes the most significant impact. “If I could help any new professionals, I think it would be to take them aside during training maybe once a week. Sit down with them and go over things. It can be so mentally exhausting to train, and sometimes that person needs an outlet. Just to be an ear to listen or go through any frustrations in a healthy way.”
Jennifer’s thoughts on the future of public safety telecommunications: “It seems as though there isn’t as much interest in dispatch as maybe there [once] was. Over the years, when a position would open, there were lots of applicants. Now it seems like there aren’t as many, and those that apply don’t meet minimum qualifications.” Jennifer is confident that “a more accepting attitude towards other personalities” is the greatest asset young professionals specifically bring to the dispatch environment. Jennifer believes incentives that might help attract and retain young professionals long term include: “shift flexibility and good starting pay along with shift differentials for the night and swing shifts.” Jennifer believes burnout from scheduling and morale are the primary reason people are leaving the industry. “I think this industry overall is short-staffed, which leads to burnout pretty quickly and then bad morale in the agency. It’s hard to come back from bad morale within dispatch, as I have experienced it. Jennifer stresses the importance of learning from previous generations before they depart from the industry. “When I first started, I worked with a few dispatchers who had been here 15+ years. Their knowledge of the ‘why’ of everything we did was so informative and helped make things easier to understand. While new dispatchers knew this information, it was better understood coming from someone who was there when the changes happened, if that makes sense.”
Jennifer believes we are on the right road as the 911 industry continuously changes. “More changes have happened in my career than I could even count. Mostly technological advances. Some good and some bad. I think overall the advances have been good and either make dispatch better or officers safer.”
As a young professional, the greatest challenge she has experienced in finding her way through the often traditional aspects of telecommunications has been “dealing with pushback from adjusting old procedures to fit new standards.” However, Jennifer has no plans of stopping or slowing down. She says, “I still see myself dispatching in five years and beyond. I left dispatch once, and even though I had moved onto exciting things, I still missed dispatch and am so glad to be back.”
When Jennifer is off duty, she enjoys spending time with her husband, two beautiful daughters. Her happy place is outdoors, filled with numerous activities during the summer and spent with family and loved ones.
Jennifer is a gladiator in the public safety arena and strives daily towards worthy goals. Silent heroes are seldom celebrated, and if Jennifer could say one thing to everyone in this industry, to every other gladiator in the arena, it would be, “Thank you.”
