Public Safety Telecommunicators Certification Board

Certification Process

As of January 2025, every 911 telecommunicator in Washington State needs to be certified to work on their own in a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP).

All information regarding certification and associated requirements can be found in the Certification Handbook (PDF).

If you have an employee that is nearing the end of training and needs to be certified, please use the Initial Certification form (PDF).

If you have an employee that has been certified in either call-taking or dispatch and you would like to add a discipline and become dual certified, please use the Update to Add a Certification Form (PDF).

Recertification

To maintain certification, a minimum of 24 continuing education (CE) hours is required for each telecommunicator during each renewal period

Training hours can be logged under any of the following categories. There is currently no requirement to obtain a specific number or hours in any given topic area
- Equipment & Technology
- Procedures and Techniques for Call Receiving
- Procedures and Techniques for Dispatching
- Policies & Procedures
- Wellness, Resiliency and Support Resources
- Legal and Compliance Updates
- Professional Development Strategies

All telecommunicators must recertify annually. This is due by June 15 of each year. At a minimum, any training records that demonstrate compliance with this requirement must include:

Telecommunicator name
Title of the training (and a brief description, if the topic cannot be deduced from the title)
Date of training
Number of CE credits, noted in hours

Agencies should keep detailed training records available at the agency for audit purposes.

Training Coordinators will be provided a link from SECO to a SharePoint site for their agency to upload their telecommunicator's training records.

Optional Recertification Training Log Form
Optional Recertificaion Summary Log

Any questions or concerns can be routed to mil-911training@mil.wa.gov.

Basic Certification/Recertification Instructions

INITIAL CERTIFICATION FOR CALL RECEIVING INSTRUCTIONS:
Prior to a trainee being released to work on their own for call receiving, they must do the following:

Prior to a trainee being released to work on their own for dispatching, they must do the following: Complete the SECO Telecommunicator 2 (T2) class including attending the 24 hour class and passing the exam with a score of 70% or above OR complete an approved knowledge training course for dispatch that includes a final test (this fulfills the knowledge requirement for the call taking portion of certification)
Complete your agency's floor training making sure to cover all required certification topics (there is an optional checklist available in the handbook in Appendix B)
Once the trainee has completed these steps and are ready to be released to work on the floor without a CTO, you must submit the Initial Certification Application (see attachment) and email it to: mil-911training@mil.wa.gov

INITIAL CERTIFICATION FOR DISPATCHING INSTRUCTIONS:

Prior to a trainee being released to work on their own for dispatching, they must do the following: Complete the SECO Telecommunicator 2 (T2) class including attending the 24 hour class and passing the exam with a score of 70% or above OR complete an approved knowledge training course for dispatch that includes a final test (this fulfills the knowledge requirement for the call taking portion of certification)
Complete your agency's floor training making sure to cover all required certification topics (there is an optional checklist available in the handbook in Appendix B)
Once the trainee has completed these steps and are ready to be released to work on the floor without a CTO, you must submit the Initial Certification Application (see attachment) and email it to: mil-911training@mil.wa.gov

RECERTIFICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

All telecommunicators that were certified between 1/1/2025-6/30/2025 will be due for renewal on 6/15/2026.
These telecommunicators will AUTOMATICALLY be enrolled in the Recertification course in APS on 4/1/2026.
Once they are enrolled in the course, they will be able to view it on their learning dashboard (managers need to go up to the right-hand side and click on the circle with their initials and click on switch to learner to see the learning landing page).
Training Coordinators (or designee) will each be provided a SharePoint folder from SECO where they will be responsible for uploading EACH INDIVIDUAL telecommunicator's training report that shows at least 24 hours of CE training during the renewal period (1/1/2025-6/15/2026). This must be done NO LATER THAN 6/15/2026.
1. If you don't have a report form you already use for each employee, the optional recertification forms are available above and can be used to create a training record.
SECO will review all applications and advise if criteria was met.
Once approved the telecommunicator will be marked in APS with their new renewal date and the training coordinator will be advised.

Continuing Education

In order to stay certified, each telecommunicator must complete at least 24 hours of continuing education annually. This will be verified every 3 years (2 years for the first recertification period for legacy telecommunicators). Recertification forms are still under development but each agency should make sure to maintain detailed training records. These will be necessary when recertification occurs. Forms will be uploaded to this site when they are completed.

Legacy applications are now closed. Only initial applications will be considered moving forward.

Certification Board

By state law, a certification board has been established in the state 911 coordination office to create a certification and training program for public safety telecommunicators throughout the state.

Duties of the certification board include:

Adopting bylaws for the certification board;
Adopting rules, with the advice and assistance of the 911 advisory committee, to implement the provisions of this chapter including, but not limited to, rules to implement a state-approved training program for process, policy, and procedure;
Reviewing and approving state-approved training programs biennially. State-approved training programs should be consistent with industry standards;
Setting all public safety telecommunicator certification, registration, and renewal fees, and to collect and deposit all such fees in the 911 account established under RCW 38.52.540; and
Establishing recertification requirements.

Find a list of our members here (Excel)

Download our bylaws here (PDF)

Anyone interested in receiving meeting invites can send an email to katy.gilbert@mil.wa.gov

Agendas

April 2026 (PDF)

Minutes/Notes (All PDFs)

March 2026 Meeting Canceled

Feb. 12, 2026
Jan. 8, 2026
Dec. 11, 2025
Oct. 9, 2025
Sept. 11, 2025
Aug. 14, 2025
July 10, 2025
May 8, 2025
Dec. 12, 2024
Nov. 14, 2024
Oct. 24, 2024
Oct. 10, 2024
Sept. 26, 2024
Sept. 12, 2024
Aug. 8, 2024
July 11, 2024
June 27, 2024
May 23, 2024
May 9, 2024
April 25, 2024
April 11, 2024
March 14, 2024
Feb. 22, 2024
Feb. 8, 2024
Jan. 11, 2024