WCCD Hosts Alabama Dispatcher Safety Training

ALEA Dispatchers training with Wallace Criminal Justice VirTra Simulators.

The Criminal Justice program at Wallace Community College-Dothan (WCCD) hosted an Alabama Dispatcher Safety Training on Tuesday, February 8, for local Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) dispatchers. The training and demonstration allowed the dispatchers to experience several “real-life” scenarios to help them understand the stresses that law enforcement experience as they communicate with the dispatchers.

WCCD Division Director for Criminal Justice, Automotive Technology, and Welding Technology Mr. Jason Owen facilitated the demonstration using the WCCD Criminal Justice program’s state-of-the-art VirTra Simulator, with attending dispatchers participating in a traffic stop and domestic violence scenario. As dispatchers often do not know the final outcome after they dispatch emergency personnel, this training allowed them to see and participate in realistic law enforcement scenarios to demonstrate what can occur once emergency personnel arrives.

“Wallace is proud to partner with ALEA and Houston County to offer this training for dispatchers,” says Owen. “Dispatchers are vital in law enforcement and emergency services. They are the first individuals the public comes into contact with when there is an emergency. The information they gather and pass on to responding emergency personnel is essential and could mean the difference between life and death.”

The WCCD Criminal Justice program uses the VirTra Simulator to realistically demonstrate law enforcement scenarios to its students. For more information about the WCCD Criminal Justice program, please contact Mr. Jason Owen at jowen@wallace.edu or 334-556-2247.