Schwartze promoted to Public Safety Joint Communications director

Schwartze moved from her interim director position Oct. 6.

By Mike Ziegler

Published Oct. 13, 2009

Zim Schwartze was recently promoted from interim director of Public Safety Joint Communications to director of PSJC, City Manager Bill Watkins announced Oct. 6.

"I'm very excited to begin this opportunity," Schwartze said about her new position. "I just did a reorganization of this department. We are starting initiatives on not only saving money but to better serve the citizens of Columbia through various radio projects to help with overall communications."

One problem Shwartze said she was concerned about was non-emergency calls coming in to PSJC.

"We are getting a lot of non-emergency calls coming in that aren't for public safety," she said. "Over the years, we have become sort of a catchall for calls that aren't public safety. We're trying to get back to just focus on public safety only."

Shwartze said the transition coming from Community Operations Division Commander at the Columbia Police Department to PSJC Director was easier because of the similarities of positions.

"I was able to walk into the position knowing how the police system worked," she said.

Although her work at CPD prepared her for the position, Schwartze said she has learned a lot.

"It's very different and eye-opening," Schwartze said. "I have learned so much being here. I get to see so much more on what they do and who they service. What this department does is really amazing."

Schwartze also said her industrial engineering degree from MU has helped her organize and streamline job duties as PSJC.

Schwartze is a familiar face and name when it comes to the City of Columbia. She was the unofficial spokesperson for CPD and much of the community knows her from working with the media.

"I was greatly involved with talking and interacting with the community," Schwartze said.

The primary role of PSJC is to handle incoming 911 calls and to dispatch the appropriate agencies, but it also has other purposes.

"We handle the warning sirens for severe weather," PSJC Supervisor Scott Patterson said.

PSJC handled 5,819 incoming 911 calls during the month of September, according to the official PSJC Web site. Roughly 18,000 of the agency's nearly 29,000 total calls were non-emergency calls. Other types of calls they handled ranged from conference calls with callers and other agencies like Poison Control, to non-emergency calls coming from regular phone lines at PSJC.

Dispatchers at PSJC handle everything from 911 calls to coordinating various agencies like the police department, Emergency Medical Services and the fire department.

"Most of our calls are for law enforcement," Patterson said. "It can be anything from past events, larceny or even someone breaking into a house. There's always something different."

Being a dispatcher does not require any special degrees or prior training, but not anyone can be a dispatcher.

"Personality and being able to multitask and handling stressful situations are requirements," said Patterson.

Prospective dispatchers go through six months of training before they are on their own.

Patterson also said the process of handling each call is the same and requires a good knowledge of each dispatcher on what agencies to dispatch. Dispatchers also can assist with medical emergencies over the phone with the caller.

"We have a system called Medical Priority dispatch that covers different patient calls," he said. "If someone is not breathing we determine the level of difficulty of their breathing. We can give directions from how to administer CPR or deliver a baby to even to escape a sinking vehicle."