City works to hire more 911 dispatchers to prevent shortages

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Imagine if you called 911 and no one was there to pick up. That’s what the City of Rochester’s Emergency Communications Department is working to prevent.

In recent years, the department has struggled to find people willing to work long hours late into the evening and early in the morning. Michael Cerretto, director of the city’s Emergency Communications Department, explained what the department is doing to attract more workers.

“Without the people in this very building, the citizens won’t get the services of those where the first person they call when they need help,” Cerretto said. “You know, we’re the ones that get the services delivered to where they have to go. So I would say that if you want to have a career where you can definitely affect somebody’s life almost every day, this is the place. And you get good benefits. You get a good salary.”

The center is now urgently hiring. If you have at least a high school diploma, you can earn over $47,000 a year as a starting wage. Cerretto says he hopes the wage attracts more people to work the long hours helping the people of Monroe County.

If you’d like to apply to work in the Emergency Communications Department, you can visit the city’s website.

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