29 Jan

The Denise Amber Lee Bill

Written by Administrator.

Florida's state-mandated standardized training for telecommunicators—& how it affects LEOs

Cindra Dunaway | | Tuesday, January 24, 2012

It’s the New Year, and one can’t help but think of starting anew. In the public safety industry, there’s so much change for 2012 that it’s hard to keep up.

Here in Florida, one of the biggest changes for the public safety telecommunicator is state-mandated standardized training (also known as the Denise Amber Lee Bill). Effective October 1, 2012, all public safety telecommunicators must be state-certified, in addition to continuing education with re-certification every two years. A 232-hour curriculum framework was established with the Florida Department of Education. The Florida Department of Health (DOH) has been tasked with overseeing certification, equivalency and compliance. Subject matter experts worked with DOH in creating a certification exam. The bottom line: October 1, 2012 begins the evolution of public safety telecommunications in Florida, moving in to an era of professionalism based on statewide standardized training, expecting the same level of service whether 9-1-1 is called in the panhandle or the keys.

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