Riverside Sheriff 911 Dispatcher CritiCall Test
How the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office hires 911 dispatchers, from the online application to the CritiCall exam, the panel interview and the training that follows
What Riverside County sets, and when
The Sheriff’s 911 Dispatcher page calls CritiCall “an online computerized pre-employment exam that consists of an intensive, multi-dimensional test battery for entry-level dispatchers”. The county’s job posting, open from November 2 to November 30, 2026, adds a step in front of it: candidates who meet the minimum qualifications must first pass an unproctored computerized assessment. The CritiCall link is then emailed within two weeks of applying.
The posting also notes a change. Riverside used to run CritiCall as an in-person, proctored exam; it is “now being offered only as an un-proctored exam for candidates to complete at home”. So you sit it on your own equipment, which makes your setup part of the preparation.
CritiCall is not one fixed test. Each agency chooses its own modules and sets its own passing score for each, and Riverside does not publish its choices. What every module looks like, the decision rules, and the one full set of real cut scores that has been published are on our CritiCall practice page.
The full hiring process
The Sheriff’s Office lists these steps, in order:
- The online application on governmentjobs.com. If you do not qualify, you can reapply after six months.
- The CritiCall exam, with results emailed within one week.
- A panel interview and a Pre-Background Questionnaire (PBQ), conducted on the same day. Business attire is expected. If you are unsuccessful here, you can reapply after six months.
- A background application through eSOPH, then an extensive background investigation that includes an interview.
- Livescan fingerprints, then a polygraph examination.
- A pre-employment psychological assessment.
- A medical exam with drug and alcohol screening.
Sit-alongs in a communications center are easy to miss. The Sheriff’s page suggests the interview stage as a good time for your two-hour sit-along if you have not done one, and says you have until the day of your interview to complete your first. The next opportunity comes after you pass the psychological exam, which is when you schedule a four-hour sit-along.
The page also lists disqualifiers, among them a felony conviction, a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction, a DUI within the last three years, being on probation, lying or withholding information, and refusing a drug test or testing positive. You must be 18 or older when you apply, eligible to work in the U.S., and hold a U.S. high school diploma or GED.
After you are hired
If you pass every step, you are provisionally hired as a Sheriff’s 911 Communications Officer and start a hands-on training program in two parts: call-taking at the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), which covers call-taking and interviewing techniques, and radio, which covers dispatching calls for service. The two county sources describe its length differently. The Sheriff’s page calls it a one-year program made up of 10 weeks of POST-certified classroom training and 22 weeks with a Communications Training Officer. The November 2026 posting describes a 32-week program completed during probation: 12 weeks in the classroom, including 120 hours of California POST Basic Dispatch Academy training, then 20 weeks on the job. Both splits add up to 32 weeks of training.
The posting lists an annual salary of $65,513.76 to $89,718.72 for the Communications Officer I position. It warns of rotating shifts, weekends, nights and holidays, and describes the work as seated at ergonomic consoles, wearing a headset to answer emergency and non-emergency calls. The Sheriff’s page says it is also seeking experienced Communications Officer IIs for Palm Desert and Riverside.
Practice the CritiCall modules
Riverside does not say which modules it sets, so these cover CritiCall’s core typing, decision, memory, spelling and map modules. Biddle, which publishes CritiCall, says its testing software runs on laptops or desktops, and its audio modules are heard over a headset, so practice on a computer with headphones.
- CritiCall Decision Making (30 questions · 10-12 minutes · free) - Send each emergency message to Police, Fire, EMS or Utility by four rules, 15 seconds each. Free to try here.
- CritiCall Keyboarding (5 minutes · 5 minutes · free) - Copy paragraphs word for word, scored in net words per minute. Free to try here.
- CritiCall Data Entry (6 minutes · 6 minutes) - Type short caller records into fields, scored in keystrokes per hour, the same unit as Riverside’s typing minimum.
- CritiCall Memory Recall: Phone Numbers (20 questions · 6-8 minutes) - Hear a seven-digit phone number once and type it from memory.
- CritiCall Map Reading (15 questions · 20 minutes) - Pick the most direct legal route on a street map, or follow directions to the end point.
- CritiCall Spelling (25 questions · 8-10 minutes) - Hear a word in a sentence and type it spelled for that meaning.
For strategy, read our CritiCall test tips. If your battery includes character comparison or cross-referencing, our page on error-checking tests covers the underlying skill.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Riverside CritiCall exam proctored?
No. The November 2026 posting describes both the initial screen and the CritiCall exam as unproctored, and says CritiCall is now offered only for candidates to complete at home.
What score do I need to pass?
Riverside does not publish its cut scores. The one full set that has been published was set by Florida Highway Patrol’s dispatchers in 2012 and is explained on our CritiCall page. Treat it as a reference point, not as Riverside’s standard.
How long after the exam will I hear back?
The Sheriff’s page says results are emailed within one week. If you pass, you are contacted to schedule the panel interview and questionnaire.
Is the 4,665 keystrokes per hour typing standard part of CritiCall?
The posting lists it as a minimum qualification. It does not say how it is measured, so assume you may be tested on it and practice data entry against that number.
Are your tests the real CritiCall exam?
No. These are independent practice exercises that follow CritiCall’s published module formats. They contain no real test items and are not supplied or endorsed by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office or by Biddle Consulting Group, which publishes CritiCall.