A bill introduced in the New Mexico Senate on Jan. 28, could reclassify more than 1,000 public safety telecommunicators as law enforcement employees within the Public Employment Retirement Association of New Mexico (PERA).
If passed, the legislation would authorize the PERA Board of Trustees to conduct a vote amongst public safety telecommunicators, often referred to as emergency dispatchers, currently contributing to a general member coverage plan, about whether they want to change to a law enforcement plan, giving them the same retirement benefits as police officers.
This move would greatly help with recruiting new dispatchers, Española/Rio Arriba E-911 Center Executive Director Joshua Archuleta said.
“We just want to be recognized under public safety and not as a clerical position any longer,” he said.
The bill was introduced by Sen. David M. Gallegos, R-Eddy and Lea Counties; Sen. Antonio Maestas, D-Bernalillo County; and Rep. Joshua Hernandez, R-Sandoval County.
If passed, the vote amongst PERA contributors must take place before Dec. 30.
According to the PERA handbook, general municipal employees, like dispatchers, who were hired or made retirement contributions prior to July 1, 2013, can retire after 25 years. If they were reclassified to certain municipal police coverage plans, it would allow them to retire after 20 years.
Similarly, if a dispatcher was hired on or after July 1, 2013, the change would still allow them to retire up to five years earlier than if they were general employees.
In 2023, Gallegos introduced Senate Bill 312, the Public Safety Telecom Retirement Act. It would have made the same changes proposed in the bill he co-sponsored this year. While the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee recommended the bill be passed, it died in the Finance Committee.
Archuleta said the Committee wanted more information about the impact the changes would have on PERA.
Currently, a statewide study is being conducted to determine the feasibility of these changes for the state’s retirement fund, he said.
The 2025 bill has been sent to the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee, but has yet to be scheduled for a hearing, according to the New Mexico Legislative website.
Mental Health and PTSD
The change in classification also holds other meaning.
In reality, a dispatcher can be the first person on the scene in an emergency even though they are not physically there, Archuleta said. This can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
“They are the first first-responders,” he said.
In a 2012 study, Dr. Michelle Lilly published a study on 911 operators in the Journal of Traumatic Stress titled “Duty-Related Trauma Exposure in 911 Telecommunicators: Considering the Risk for Post-traumatic Stress.”
In an interview with The Journal of Emergency Dispatch, Lilly said 911 dispatchers had rates of PTSD between 18 and 24%.
The more distressing and upsetting a call the dispatcher takes, she said, the more at risk they become for PTSD. A person does not have to have direct physical exposure to traumatic events for PTSD to develop.
Archuleta, who has worked in dispatch for more than 23 years, said he and his command staff are trained to look for signs of PTSD in those with whom he works, and that it is something they try to pay close attention to every day.
While dispatchers are currently not recognized as law enforcement employees, they do have to go through similar training, Archuleta said.
They get a lot of their training on-the-job, he said, but they also must attend the Law Enforcement Academy’s three-week training to obtain a public safety telecommunication dispatch certificate, as well as receive telephone CPR, EMS and firefighting training.
911 Saves
Act of 2024
Emergency dispatchers are currently classified as clerical employees on both the state and national levels, Archuleta said. There was a similar bill as the one introduced in New Mexico in the U.S. Congress that would have recognized and reclassified emergency dispatchers, but it was unsuccessful and did not get signed into law.
The 911 Saves Act of 2024 would have reclassified emergency dispatchers as a subset of protective service occupations by the United States Office of Management and Budget.
The bill was introduced in November 2023 during the 118th Congress. In September 2024, Democrat New Mexico House Rep. Gabriel Vasquez sponsored the bill.
The 911 Saves Act died and has not been introduced in the 119th Congress, which began on Jan. 3, 2025.