I had to work afternoons on Memorial Day this year. I really did not mind because it was paid overtime holiday so I was making some pretty good money. It was fairly quiet in the dispatch center. Before coming into work, I was sure we were going to busy with family troubles and domestics given the fact it was a holiday where families get together and many are indulging in alcoholic beverages which generally is not a good mix. In our dispatch center, on afternoons we usually run with 4 dispatchers on a shift, unless there is a sick call, then we drop down to three if nobody from dayshift wants the overtime. In case you have never been in a police/fire dispatch the room is set up like this:

Station 1 – Shift Coordinator (supervisor) or Senior Dispatcher – Responsibilities include police radio backup and the L.E.I.N. computer (acronym for Law Enforcement Information Network). L.E.I.N. is a computer that interfaces with a bunch of other databases including broadcasts from other departments, DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) and SOS (Secretary of State) files, N.C.I.C. (National Crime Information Center), Sex Offender Registries, Carrying Concealed Weapons Permits, etc. The Position is also a back-up for 911 Emergency Medical Dispatch and fire department radio dispatch and radio traffic.

Station 2 – Police Dispatch – Responsibilities include dispatching police officers to runs and all other police traffic.

Station 3 – 911 Emergency Medical Dispatch and fire department radio dispatch and radio traffic.

Station 4 – Answering all police/fire non-emergency local lines and inputting calls for service (addresses where police and fire services are requested).

All police and fire dispatches are set up differently but they pretty much all have the same positions and functions.

Anyway, I got into work early in order to avoid sitting 911 or police radio dispatch in fear that we were going to be flooded with drunken people runs, driving while intoxicated runs, and domestics. I plopped down at Station 4 and worked the non-emergency lines. In the middle of the shift I took a call from a gentleman who wanted to report that some Japanese trees that were in planters on his front porch had been stolen. He was very nice and polite. I took his information and inputted it into the computer and sent the run over to the police radio dispatcher. She quickly dispatched the run and that was that. About an hour later that same gentleman had called back. He asked if I was the dispatcher that he had talked to early about his stolen plant pots. I replied yes. He proceeded to thank me for my politeness and help. He went on about how gracious he was and how much he appreciated the services we provide. He ended the conversation with the happy Memorial Day to you and I wished him the same.

For the rest of my shift I felt really good about my job. You see, dispatchers really do not get a whole lot of credit for what they do. We essentially are the first link in the chain of survival. People very rarely call a police or fire department unless they are is some sort of crisis. Dispatchers day in and day out deal with the worst of society and the things people usually do not like to talk about. Sit down with a dispatcher and talk to them about some of the calls they have taken throughout the years. Some of the calls are quite funny like someone calling 911 because there is a deer in their back yard or some pervert who gets his kicks off of talking dirty to a dispatcher (these types of calls are really comical) and some of the calls are very tragic like babies not breathing, couples who have been married for 60 years who awake to find their loved ones has passed in the night, and armed robberies or domestic assaults in progresses, and elderly people in nursing homes who are lonely because thier families never visit and they just want someone to talk to, etc. Imagine being a 911 dispatcher on 9/11 when the World Trade Center was attacked or the day of the tragedy at Columbine High School in Colorado. So, I just wanted to thank that man for saying thank you. I know it is my job but sometimes it is just nice to know that we help and someone appreciates it. Just like anything in life, a little appreciation goes a long way.

 If you have any questions that are law enforcement related or any questions about dispatching I would love to answer them. Please feel free to ask and I will respond quickly! Thanks.