Arapahoe County’s emergency dispatchers will receive more money and better benefits after they were designated Wednesday as first-responders just like sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and paramedics.
The move for the 36 dispatchers who answer 911 calls and communicate with those racing to emergencies was approved by the county’s board of commissioners, making Arapahoe one of the few counties in the United States to do so.
Arapahoe County is the second county in Colorado to re-classify its dispatchers as first-responders, after Pitkin County, and Colorado is the seventh state where at least one county has made the change, Monica Million, National Emergency Number Association president, said. Counties in Indiana, California, Tennessee, West Virginia, Texas and Maryland also have upgraded dispatchers’ employment status.