BY MEGHAN V. MALLOY

Staff Writer

A standardized training program for Maine dispatchers scheduled to start in the wake of two dozen complaints about the state-run Central Maine Regional Communications Center has yet to be implemented.

The standardized training was supposed to begin in mid-summer, a few months after the Kennebec County Sheriff's Office filed 24 complaints about the quality of service.

The standardized training, announced in June, is to be implemented by the Maine Public Utilities Commission, the agency responsible for Maine dispatcher training.

"It took longer than expected because there were issues on what curriculum to use and rounding up instructors to teach the program," PUC spokeswoman Evelyn deFrees said. "Since the setup took longer, we are a few months delayed, but we have all intention to get everyone through this quickly."

Stephan Bunker, PUC coordinator of dispatcher training and development, said in June that the sheriff's complaints were not a catalyst for the training; rather, a state mandate directed the change.

The program, a 40-hour course from the National Academy of Dispatch, is scheduled to start Dec. 14 at the criminal justice academy in Vassalboro.

Full-time and part-time dispatchers hired as of Jan. 1, 2008, are required by law to take the course, which offers basic dispatch training, including telephone and radio communication, information extraction during calls, operating technology involved in the business, and dispatcher responsibilities. All dispatchers are eligible for the program.

Clifford Wells, director of consolidated emergency communications from the Maine Department of Public Safety, in June called the standardized training "long overdue" when Bunker said he was bringing the program to Maine.

The sister of a Windsor man who died last November, Dawn Fecteau, said her family found it "unconscionable" the training had not yet happened.

Darren Duncan died Nov. 8, 2008, after he was struck by two vehicles in Chelsea. Questions were raised about dispatcher protocol and actions taken in relation to Duncan's death after transcripts from the 911 calls were released.

"I would have thought given the many complaints filed by the sheriff's office that basic changes, like standardized training, would have been implemented a long time ago," Fecteau said in an e-mail. "We are shocked to learn that, a year later, the person who handled the call that night is still employed as a dispatcher. It is unconscionable."

Wells said the case was investigated and disciplinary action against personnel was taken, but no one was fired.

In the meantime, all dispatchers in the Augusta Central Maine Regional Communications Center have undergone two "refresher courses" covering dispatching basics in June and September, Wells said.

"The way we talk to emergency medical crews, meaning the jargon that we use, we can't use with the public," Wells said. "But sometimes people get into a routine, so a refresher course helps."

The training is funded by the emergency calling surcharge on phone bills, not a state tax, deFrees said.

Meghan V. Malloy -- 623-3811, ext. 431

mmalloy@centralmaine.com