CCSO’s Public Safety Career Academy opens doors, creates opportunities for kids

During an emergency, 911 dispatchers are the first line of defense for people in trouble.
And now, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office is working to train the next generation of dispatchers to do this important work.

The sheriff’s office partnered with the Immokalee Foundation to get 11 kids interested in 911 communications this summer through the brand new “Public Safety Career Academy.”

The students will learn police codes, emergency dispatch center technology and how to respond to someone calling 911 in distress.

A student in the academy, Cenaida, said, “Just like the opportunity the new experience and everything that it offers is very overwhelming and I’m always into new stuff, so hopefully, this gets me like… opens a new door because I’ve really never seen myself working for the sheriff’s department.”

The academy started last week and ends on July 28.

The hope is many of the students will choose to go on and potentially become a full-time dispatcher, as early as August.