January 2000 to now- Los Gatos Police Dispatch Center has annually budgeted to have 8 dispatchers on duty to keep you safe. Over this time, police administrations have never filled more than seven full time dispatchers.
The shortage is a scheme to provide operational cost savings.
Even with 8 full time dispatchers, the center would still have two to four hours a day where only one dispatcher would be on duty.. Every time we lose a dispatcher, it increases the amount of time we only have a single dispatcher to handle emergencies. Receiving telephone calls from the community and working all of the radio traffic by a single dispatcher during even a small emergency can be extremely precarious.
Between July 2020 and August of 2021, 3 dispatchers resigned and 1 retired. Additionally, two Dispatcher Trainees hired in October both resigned. One last 2 months, the other 6 months.
It should be noted that that 2 dispatcher trainees are currently in training.
August 2021- The Dispatcher union goes to impasse with the Town’s negotiation team after they receive an offer of a 0% raise and eight hours of floating holiday.
September 7 2021- Los Gatos Town Council votes on increasing pay for “per diem” dispatchers while refusing to increase the pay for the three remaining loyal dispatchers.
