Sheriff's Emergency Services Dispatcher

Join Our World-Class Team! The Sheriff's Office is hiring experienced individuals for the position of Sheriff’s Emergency Services Dispatcher.

We are looking for people who are capable of taking command of situations in a sensitive and straightforward manner while showing consideration and respect to others. The Sheriff’s Communications Center provides the highest quality professional public safety services to the residents of San Diego County.

Sheriff’s Emergency Services Dispatchers are trained to respond to 9-1-1 emergency and non-emergency calls and are responsible for dispatching deputies in the field. This requires a candidate who can assess accurately, make quick decisions and use good judgment to ensure safety of patrol deputies.

June 2026 – 6.03% increase to base pay (3.5% Across-the-Board + 2.53% Market Adjustment)

June 2027 – 5.53% increase to base pay (3% Across-the-Board + 2.53% Market Adjustment)

The Communications Center is centrally located in Kearny Mesa and is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Applicants must be willing to work any/rotating shifts, on holidays or weekends.

• Eligible employees shall be paid an additional $2.50 per hour to provide training to newly hired staff in the areas of telephone and radio communications in the Sheriff’s Communication Center.
• Eligible employees shall be paid 10% of their base pay when assigned as a lead dispatcher. Furthermore, employees receiving the lead premium shall not be eligible to receive the Sheriff’s Dispatcher Training Premium.

As part of the County of San Diego’s pre-employment process, prospective candidates will undergo a background check (including fingerprinting) and a pre-employment medical screening prior to beginning County employment. Additional types of background investigations may be conducted based on the job-related activities of the position.

Applications are completed online. Candidates who meet the minimum qualifications will be notified and given instructions on how to schedule themselves for the performance exam. In order to be considered, all candidates who are notified that they meet the minimum qualifications must take the performance exam. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable a qualified individual with disabilities to perform the essential functions of a job, on a case-by-case basis.

The Criti Call performance exam can be completed online from home and is a work-simulated computer-based performance test covering the following areas:

• Call summarization
• Character comparison
• Data entry
• Cross-referencing
• Decision making
• Prioritization
• Keyboarding
• Probability
• Map reading
• Reading comprehension
• Memory recall
• Sentence clarity and spelling

Applicants who are successful in passing the performance examination will be placed on a twelve (12) month employment list based on a score received from their application and supplemental questionnaire (100%). Please ensure all information is complete and accurate as the responses you provide on the supplemental application questionnaire will be reviewed using an automated evaluation system. If you are successful in the initial screening process your application will be reviewed individually to confirm that the information you provided is accurate and qualifying.

The County of San Diego now participates in E-Verify.

As an employer of over 19,000…