RTCCs behind the ‘screens:’ Why operator wellness matters

KEY IDEAS:

• Real-time crime center (RTCC) operators work in high-exposure, high-stress roles assisting first responders in the field.
• Many agencies have invested in wellness services for sworn officers and dispatchers, but RTCC operators don’t always receive those benefits.
• RTCC personnel may benefit from ergonomic workspaces, counseling services, and advanced tech solutions.
• Data integration solutions reduce operators’ mental load and help leaders track wellness metrics across their agency.

“You're exposed to all of the trauma with no ability to do anything about it. And most of the folks in our profession are helping types. We want to help. We want to be involved, but you're at arm's reach, and you're not able to affect as much as your frontline crew.”

Kay Anderson, Emergency Communications and Operations Management Branch Director

Edmonton Police Service

The benefits of real-time crime centers are clear: providing critical situational awareness, aiding investigations, and acting as force multipliers for agencies. But while RTCCs have a measurable impact on officer safety, RTCC operator wellness is often left out of the discussion.

Many RTCCs rely on civilian analysts who might not receive the same benefits offered to sworn officers. However, research shows that police agencies see higher recruitment and retention when they prioritize innovation, a healthy culture, and a team mentality. RTCC personnel are an essential component of a well-functioning team, and agencies benefit when they support their operators’ emotional and mental well-being

To understand the stressors facing RTCC operators and how public safety leaders can invest in wellness solutions, we spoke to a panel of experts:

• Kay Anderson, Emergency Communications and Operations Management Branch Director, Edmonton Police Service (EPS)
• Nikki Bell, Real-Time Information Center Manager, Vacaville Police Department
• Alex Miles, Chief of Administration, Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO)
• Mike O’Connor, Peregrine (moderator)

Read on to learn why RTCC operator wellness matters, how to reduce the stigma around mental health, and how versatile tech solutions can help support RTCC personnel.

💡 WHY IT MATTERS: Supporting RTCC operator wellness directly impacts situational awareness, staff retention, and decision-making in real-time environments, ultimately enhancing community and officer safety.

What is RTCC operator wellness?

“Wellness” encompasses physical, mental, and emotional health. When leaders create positive, productive work environments, operators can better withstand the daily pressures of their jobs. Wellness-oriented solutions include stress-reducing physical spaces, time-saving tech solutions, and mental health resources.

In the past, wellness services were typically only offered after critical incidents, said Anderson, who works with the Edmonton Police Service’s Operations and Intelligence Command Center (OICC). Now, leaders are shifting to a proactive approach that reduces overwhelm, fatigue, and negative outcomes.

“It’s important that these supports are in place to frontload and build resiliency so that when you do have a critical incident or a major event, your folks are able to rebound from that impact much quicker,” Anderson said. “They’re not missing as much work, and they’re set up to succeed.”

READ MORE → An Integrated Approach to Officer Wellness

Major stressors for RTCC operators

RTCCs function under intense scrutiny. Personnel need to be resilient, flexible, and alert, navigating a constant influx of information and meticulously tracking success metrics to demonstrate the value of their crime centers. Also, RTCC leaders often engage their communities by offering facility tours to the public, which can disrupt personnel’s workflow in time-sensitive scenarios.

Staffing and workload challenges

RTCCs don’t exist in a vacuum; they’re influenced by their agency’s culture and the public safety ecosystem, and many agencies are still recovering from chronic understaffing and burnout. In Police1’s What Cops Want survey, 82% of respondents said their agencies were understaffed, and 86% said that affected their ability to take time for wellness practices.

While RTCC operators haven’t been at the forefront of that discussion, they’re no exception, said Chief Miles. Throughout his career, he’s seen the life-altering impacts of chronic stress and PTSD. As Tuscaloosa County’s RTCC continues to expand, its operators need extra support to sustain an increased workload.

“We've got to do something to help our people,” Miles said. “We are responsible for that, because we all see this slow-motion train wreck, and nobody's doing anything.”

💡 LAW ENFORCEMENT STAFFING AND WELLNESS STATS:

• 82% of police officers say their agencies are understaffed
• 86% say staffing issues have affected their ability to allot time to wellness

Exposure to graphic or traumatic material

RTCC operators handle an onslaught of emotionally taxing material, often listening to challenging computer-aided dispatch (CAD) calls, monitoring body-worn camera footage, and guiding officers via radio. Their adrenaline is pumping, but they can’t always see what’s happening, and they don’t get the same closure.

“You’re working in a high-risk, high-exposure, low-control environment,” Anderson said. “You're exposed to all of the trauma with no ability to do anything about it. And most of the folks in our profession are helping types. We want to help. We want to be involved, but you're at arm's reach, and you're not able to affect as much as your frontline crew.”

In worst-case scenarios, operators might witness graphic incidents involving their peers. Anderson offered an example: A few years ago, EPS implemented a helicopter live feed. When a pursuit resulted in an officer-involved shooting, staff members in the OICC — including people who weren’t involved in the response — couldn’t avoid the image displayed on the video wall. Ultimately, their staff members weren’t prepared, and one individual went on long-term leave.

“There was no way for them to not be exposed to that, and we hadn't really gone as far to think about what the wellness impact would be for them,” Anderson said. “You don't know what you're going to hear or see. It's just happening in real time.”

💡 RTCC OPERATORS AND FIRST RESPONDERS face many similar challenges, including:

• Chronic fatigue from shift work or irregular hours
• High-stakes, fast-paced work environment
• Sustained stress that affects sleep quality, personal relationships, and home life
• Constant context-switching and information overload
• Low morale when discussing law enforcement careers
• Exposure to violent or graphic material

How agencies can support RTCC operator wellness

Leaders set the tone in an RTCC. At the Vacaville Police Department’s real-time information center (RTIC), Bell has implemented a variety of wellness solutions, all built on a foundation of clear communication, flexibility, and expectations around failure.

“Failure is not bad,” Bell said. “We’re brave. We’re going to throw things at the wall, see if it sticks, and if it doesn’t, that’s fine. We’re going to move through things together.”

That team mentality extends beyond the RTIC: Bell has built relationships with other departments and real-time centers. RTIC personnel often feel like they’re on an island, but working across departmental lines creates camaraderie. And if operators need to take time off or attend wellness training, it’s easier to tap external personnel to fill in.

“That's a huge thing that we can offer them,” Bell said. “We owe it to these folks, who are brave to come and work in these new spaces.”

READ MORE → Prioritizing Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Mental Health

Physical and ergonomic workspace improvements

An RTCC operator might spend their entire workday sitting at their desk, squinting at a wall of screens, and performing small repetitive actions, like picking up the radio. Over time, that physical strain adds up. Bell said real-time operators benefit from:

• Climate-controlled environments
• Adjustable standing desks
• Ergonomic desk setups
• An adequate number of monitors
• Headsets to reduce neck strain

Inconsistent tour schedules also take a toll on RTIC operators, so Bell only books tours on Thursdays. Each week, the team wears uniforms and casts pre-approved displays on the TV wall. To minimize interruptions, their desks face toward the wall, so they don’t have to pause their work when a new group arrives.

Pre-hire psychological screenings

EPS requires a pre-hire psychological screening for civilian professional staff, including dispatch and digital evidence technicians. These staff members are often exposed to the same graphic imagery as sworn officers, so they need to be resilient, Anderson said.

“We're supporting our members' wellness and protecting them,” Anderson said. “That’s had a net benefit for us to reduce our long-term leave, because people are coming to work healthy, and then they're staying healthy.”

Mental health resources and programs

“What really matters to me is walking into the room and seeing that our people are okay, they want to be there, and they're healthy.” —Kay Anderson, Emergency Communications and Operations Management Branch Director, Edmonton Police Service

EPS also mandates annual wellness sessions for individuals in high-exposure roles, even if they haven’t experienced any critical events that year. Anderson leads by example, speaking openly about their experience to reduce the stigma.

As a result, about 20% of EPS’s staff now attend 10 or more sessions per year. The effect is substantial, Anderson said: Prior to 2021, the agency usually had more than 20% of its members on long-term leave. Now, that number is around 5%.

“We've seen a significant return on the investment just from staffing alone,” Anderson said. “But what really matters to me is walking into the room and seeing that our people are okay, they want to be there, and they're healthy.”

💡 WELLNESS ROI SNAPSHOT: After implementing mandated annual wellness sessions for personnel in high-exposure roles, the portion of EPS’s staff on long-term leave declined from an average of 20% before 2021 to around 5% today.

Similarly, Miles has been pushing to eliminate the stigma around mental health. He encourages supervisors to meet with their personnel, including RTCC staff, on a quarterly basis. That provides a recurring touchpoint to discuss commendable incidents, improvements, and resources, such as TCSO’s peer support and employee assistance programs.

“We're going to have that in writing, be able to identify those problems early on, and make them have those conversations so we can get our people help,” Miles said.

💡 PRO TIP: Make sure new mental health professionals understand operators’ jobs. EPS interviews, selects, and hires psychologists on a contract basis. The psychologist does sit-alongs in the OICC to ensure they understand the environment and common stressors.

Technology that reduces cognitive load

When RTCC operators are constantly switching between different monitors, screens, and real-time inputs, their attention is fractured. They’re tuned into multiple sources, searching through disconnected databases, and manually translating those data points into actionable intelligence. That contributes to mental fatigue, especially for departments with minimal staffing.

“Oftentimes you're working with a thin crew initially, so your folks are wearing multiple hats, and those who have a deep heart of service want to work, work, work,” Bell said.

With integrated data, RTCC operators can drive higher impact while reducing their mental load. Data integration solutions ingest, clean, and unify an RTCC’s data sources, so personnel spend less time searching across siloed systems and double-checking duplicate records. Instead, they benefit from automated analysis, user-friendly visualizations, and increased confidence in their insights.

Leadership, culture, and funding for wellness

“We love to talk about wellness and support, but really the proof is in the budget: Are you actually putting resources and time toward that and taking it seriously?” —Kay Anderson, Emergency Communications and Operations Management Branch Director, Edmonton Police Service

Awareness is the first step, but funding is still a major challenge, Anderson said.

“We love to talk about wellness and support, but really the proof is in the budget,” they said. “Are you actually putting resources and time toward that and taking it seriously?”

Anderson shared some of their creative strategies for securing funding, which included:

• Leveraging grant funding to secure annual wellness sessions
• Partnering with local colleges to have psychology students work with first responders
• Tracking absenteeism, public complaints, and internal metrics
• Sharing success stories of individuals impacted by OICC’s wellness resources

You don’t have to start from scratch, though. Bell suggests reaching out to similar organizations with wellness programs and using their ROI data to bolster your proposal.

You can also leverage your agency’s existing tech to monitor internal trends, Bell said. Data integration tools don’t just make RTCC operators more efficient; they also assist with monitoring wellness. By using internal data, including CAD data and staffing data, you can monitor operators’ wellness metrics. That makes it easier to track exposure, support your argument, and identify individuals who may be struggling.

“An unintended positive consequence of some of these technology platforms we’re onboarding is that we can create thresholds or dashboards that track what calls for service folks are going to,” Bell said. “You don’t have to search in different systems to paint an accurate picture of someone’s well-being.”

💡 NEXT STEPS FOR RTCC LEADERS:

• Consider conducting a wellness assessment for operators
• Use data analytics technology to monitor operator wellness
• Explore our real-time crime center guide for actionable RTCC strategies