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I recently applied to be an entry-level dispatcher at my local Sheriff's department (responding incoming emergency and non-emergency calls as well as communicating with patrol officers on the field). I received an e-mail informing me I met the criteria and to take performance-exam next week, I believe it will be done via Criti-Call. Could a fellow goon describe the general routine/work, performance test, hours (and flexibility)?
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| # ? Feb 22, 2013 19:04 |
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| # ? May 25, 2013 07:21 |
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Hey, I'm in the process of trying to get a dispatcher job as well! My performance exam isn't until the end of March though. Any chance you'll report back with what the test was like? 
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| # ? Feb 22, 2013 21:13 |
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I was a dispatcher in both Los Angeles and Denver. Denver was with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office, where I learned that most every criticism I'd heard about SOs was accurate.  The general routine depends on how responsibilities are structured. The larger the agency the more responsibilities are broken down. You'll probably start off on graves as a call taker on the non-emergency lines. This gives you a chance to learn all about the agency procedures as well as whatever computer aided dispatch system they use without killing anyone. You move up to adding emergency phone calls. Then you'll start on the radio doing whatever the secondary channel is. Secondary is for non-emergency radio traffic like officers requesting criminal histories or prolonged license plate/dmv info. Then you jump up to the primary radio channel and get to deal with emergency traffic like foot and vehicle pursuits. At some point you get rotated to the other shifts so you get a feel for how different shifts get different flavors of calls. Days are mostly report calls, like someone arriving at work and finding vandalism, or evidence of burglary. Nights heat up as people get off of work and start getting loaded, driving drunk, beating each other up, etc. Graves are what I called "crime watch" because this is when you'll get the highest percentage of hot calls and lowest percentage of bullshit calls. This is prime time for burglars, car thieves, prowlers and the like. You'll get most of your vehicle pursuits on graves. Flexibility depends on the agency. There is typically strict seniority for assigning shifts and if they're running close to the bone it's difficult to cover shifts if someone wants to take a day off, or a vacation. I loved this job and it helped turn me into someone who understands what a real emergency is, and I can filter out drama very well. But if your agency sucks, your job will also suck. SOs can be much worse than municipal police departments because of the Sheriff being an elected office. So you get a political, worthless fuckhead like Pat Sullivan running the place for years, grinding everyone down until he winds up in his own jail. In a good agency they'll try to keep you from burning out and insulate you from the usual departmental bullshit. In smaller places you'll get to know your officers and they'll get to know you too. You'll learn who you want to send on the complex calls, who is best to send for bar fights, you name it. In a large agency it can get pretty faceless, and you'll never know the final disposition of the calls you handle. That can be hard to take, especially for the ugly calls.
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| # ? Feb 22, 2013 22:46 |
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I do Fire/EMS dispatch for a small/medium-sized East Coast city, so I could answer questions about that.
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| # ? Feb 23, 2013 00:02 |
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Cage Kicker posted:I do Fire/EMS dispatch for a small/medium-sized East Coast city, so I could answer questions about that. I forgot to mention that depending on agency some SOs and Police also dispatch EMS. Otherwise they dish those calls off to Fire.
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| # ? Feb 23, 2013 00:15 |
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Dick Trauma posted:I forgot to mention that depending on agency some SOs and Police also dispatch EMS. Otherwise they dish those calls off to Fire. For instance, in my hometown, the police dispatch themselves, our volunteer Fire Department, and the contract EMS service. Where I work, we take all the 911 calls, dish the cop stuff to the PD dispatch, and run everything else.
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| # ? Feb 23, 2013 00:26 |
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Do you guys ever get bribed? Like "here is 10k ignore all break and enters on Saturday"
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| # ? Feb 23, 2013 00:47 |
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Baloogan posted:Do you guys ever get bribed? Like "here is 10k ignore all break and enters on Saturday" You raise an interesting premise though.
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| # ? Feb 23, 2013 01:03 |
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Burglar alarms are the lowest priority so no one would have to be bribed. Panic alarms though would be high priority (with commercial ones the highest) since the chance of a false positive is much lower. Most alarms would be routed to dispatch via an alarm company though so that would add an extra layer of documentation.
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| # ? Feb 23, 2013 01:40 |
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Can you give some more examples of what priorities are assigned to different calls? When you say burglar alarms are the lowest, do you actually mean they would be lower than, say, a noise complaint or something?
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| # ? Feb 23, 2013 02:05 |
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Burglar alarms are low because they don't involve a live complainant and are usually false alarms. I never dispatched on a burglar alarm that wasn't false. Noise complaints are low because at best they're just a municipal infraction. They get a higher priority if it's from a location where noise complaints like parties have a history of escalating into some sort of brouhaha. A leaf blower at 10am is going to be very low priority. A raging party with a crowd of drunk people outside standing in the street at 2am is going to be higher. Truly hot calls are crimes in progress as reported by a human being, with violent crimes or dangerous circumstances being the hottest. First hand reports (I SEE A MAN WITH A GUN) are higher priority than second hand (SOMEONE JUST TOLD ME THEY SAW A MAN WITH A GUN) and the usually low-quality third hand (SOMEONE TOLD ME THAT THAT SOMEONE OUTSIDE SAYS THEY HEARD THERE IS A MAN WITH A GUN.) A robbery alarm from a bank is a hot call because it requires an employee activating it, it means the crime is in progress or just occurred and robberies at banks usually mean someone with a weapon. "Just occurred" calls can be hot depending on the nature of the crime. Violent crime, or dangerous circumstances will always be hotter than something like vandalism. Any cold call is going to be a much lower priority even if it was something like the sound of gunshots. If it was heard thirty minutes ago and there's no reason to think the shooter is still around it's going to be down the list. In a big city this is more common than a small place where the sound of gunshots is unusual. EDIT: A "dangerous circumstance" would be something like a person threatening to shoot them-self and they're known to have possession of a firearm. That person has not necessarily committed a crime but it still requires an immediate police response. Dick Trauma fucked around with this message at Feb 23, 2013 around 02:18 |
| # ? Feb 23, 2013 02:15 |
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Dick Trauma posted:Burglar alarms are the lowest priority so no one would have to be bribed. Panic alarms though would be high priority (with commercial ones the highest) since the chance of a false positive is much lower. Most alarms would be routed to dispatch via an alarm company though so that would add an extra layer of documentation. This varies by jurisdiction. I've done dispatch for an alarm company and residential panic alarms have a really lovely reputation for almost always turning out to be toddlers playing with the button, old people pushing it just for attention, getting left in someone's purse and smashed in by accident etc. to the point that some agencies will put them on low priority or even refuse to respond unless there's some sort of confirmed contact with someone at the scene. Commercial panic alarms are definitely serious poo poo every time, though.
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| # ? Feb 23, 2013 03:59 |
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I actually work as an emergency medical helicopter dispatcher, and you'll presumably get to talk to some people like me if you have air in the area.  (SO dispatchers will call my company in the event of an accident where air will be able to better help someone in an accident than ground, or if aerial help is needed in a search and rescue or finding someone that's been ejected from a vehicle.) I've never had a SO dispatching job myself, but a lot of my coworkers have a background in it. Their main piece of advice (which actually also translates to our job as well) is the recorded line is your friend--people on the other end will say you never said something, or you told them something wrong, ALL OF THE TIME. But, provided you are doing your job correctly, the recording will show you're not a gently caress up, and you do know what you're doing.
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| # ? Feb 23, 2013 04:16 |
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Everything that's been said in the thread so far is true. I can give you some tips on since I'm an trainer and am very involved in our hiring/testing. Programs like Criticall have two big things you have to remember or you'll sabotage yourself. Its testing skills, not your knowledge of dispatching or call taking. It is looking for your ability to learn the job not do it. Don't worry if they define something differently than you know it to be, follow their rules. The second part is true for most parts of any civil service process, and that is you will get things wrong. These tests are meant to create a range of scores so they can rank people, everyone getting a 100% makes that impossible. Remember both of these, and you should do well. Now, in terms of hours and flexibility, that's all going to depend on the agency. We're represented here by the FOP, so we have contractual rules on work hours. We bid shifts every two years, for both hours of work and days off. The officers bid only for shift, and rotate off days. Some agencies work 12's, but there's been some recent rule interpretations that say some of the 12 hour schedules are illegal, so a lot of agencies are going to 3 12's and 1 8. That makes no sense to me, but some like it. Flexibility is also up to the agency. We can take time off as vacation with 24 hours notice, as long as there is minimum coverage. Comp time is the same way, but the supervisor can deny it if he doesn't want to cover it via overtime (but he never denies it). Sick time requires a 2-hour call off, and 1-4 days don't need a doctor's note, at 5 you have to have a note and be checked for fitness for duty by employee health. No vacation is allowed for the first 6 months, but it accrues and is given at 6 months and 1 day to the employee's bank. So at first, you're kind of locked in, but for a short time. Meanwhile, the city next to us gives no time off but sick with less than 2 weeks notice, plus anything longer than 3 days gets bid by seniority at the start of the year. So, we've got it pretty nice on that, but they make more. Recorded lines are a life saver. I've never been written-up for anything I've ever said on the radio or phones, but I've actually gotten other people in trouble for false reporting when they claimed I said something else. People do get in trouble for things they say, but make sure you follow the rules, and you're golden. Protocols are your friend. If you've got any other questions, go ahead and ask, like I said, I'm a trainer for APCO basic, which you may end up taking and a CTO (Communications training officer, I get to sit next to trainees for their first 6 months, often with a splitter on the headsets to take over if needed). I can tell you that training requirements vary hugely by state, I'm in Ohio, and they're basically non-existant here. Take a look here http://psc.apcointl.org/2010/09/01/...ication-survey/ to see what you're in for on that.
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| # ? Feb 23, 2013 11:24 |
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Starpluck posted:....Could a fellow goon describe the general routine/work, performance test, hours (and flexibility)? Huge wall of text for you - Kudos to you for looking into this career field. It's not for everyone, and nothing like the tv/movies make it appear to be. If you go in with the right attitude and no expectations, you will adapt to it easier and have a higher likelihood of enjoying your work. Others have already posted good stuff. I'll add my two cents in as well. I started with my local Sheriff's Office at 20, and began as a civilian in the Corrections Bureau. I decided after 18 months that while I learned a lot, it wasn't my cup of tea. On a whim, I saw a posting for a '911 Telecommunications Specialist', and thought "Hey, why not". I stayed in the Communications Division for 11 years, serving as a Dispatcher, Senior Dispatcher, Trainer, and Supervisor for the last 3.5 years. While there, I became an Associate Instructor for Texas DPS, a TCLEOSE Instructor, as well as getting certified as a Crisis/Hostage Negotiator. I transferred a tad over a year ago to our Fugitive Apprehension Division (Swat) as a Research Analyst (An entirely different thread that I could already fill up with random cool poo poo, heh). Agencies that use Criticall software are able to pick and choose which modules they want to use and in what order they want them to be displayed. Don't stress over that test. Examples of things that may appear on it include a typing test, memory test, dictation test, etc. While the agency sets their minimum percentage to pass, most set them low enough to realize that not everyone has experience already. They have guidelines and averages available to them to set the pass/fail appropriately. After that, you will likely have your background interview, followed by an oral board. The oral board for our agency usually includes 2 Dispatch Supervisors, 2 Sr. Dispatchers or Trainers, and 1 Sr. Patrol Dpty or Detective. Our civilian staff our covered under Civil Service as well, so everything is taped, with a proctor sitting int he room during the board. They will each ask you 2 questions, most of which provide you with a job-related scenario, that you must then decide how you would act. While they are obviously looking for the correct answer, they are also looking for your logic. Make sure that when you answer, you explain why you chose the way you did. (ie; I believe the choking child call should be ahead of the burglary in progress call due to an immediate threat of loss of life with the child). In this scenario you may be wrong if you said that, (there are LE agencies that would take the burglary first, considering the child more EMS related, but you will obviously not know that until you get in there and start learning their SOPs. After your board, those that pass will be placed on an eligibility list. This list is ranked by your final score, and lasts until everyone on it has been hired, or it expires, (how long it lasts will be up to the bylaws of that agency's civil service). Be patient. From start to finish, it could take you a couple of weeks, to several months before you are actually hired. Welcome to working 'for the man'. Once hired, our folks will spend the first 7 weeks in a classroom setting. During this time, they obtain their Telecommunicator Basic License, get certified into TCIC/NCIC/TLETS/NLETS (the systems that allow you to access Criminal Histories, Driving Records, Wanted Persons, etc), and learn our SOPs. They get to learn our CAD, (Computer Aided Dispatch system), as well as our in-house RMS, (Records Management System). They will begin taking mock calls to learn how to take control of the caller when needed, and get the information in the proper order. After their classroom phase, they enter their OTJ (On-The-Job). They will spend 4-5 weeks with one Trainer, followed by an additional 4-5 weeks with a second Trainer, back-to-back. During these 8-10 weeks, they learn how to handle both Admin, (non-emergency), as well as 911 calls. They are 'graded' each day, and provided a quick 5 minute recap of their day by their trainer each day. Each week, they have a 15-20 minute meeting with their trainer and the training Supervisor to go over their week. At the end of the 8-10 weeks, they are either cut-free, (released to work on their own), or go into remediation. Remediation generally consists of spending another 3-5 weeks focusing on their problem areas to help them pass. Once they are on their own, they will work on Admin and 911 Calls for anywhere from 3-6 months. This gives them time to get comfortable with the CAD system and familiar with our SOPs on a day-to-day basis. They then move on to Radio Training. This has the same format as the phone training, alternating between trainers half way through. Our agency uses two main channels, (We split our County basically in half, East and West). Other channels are opened up as needed, but that is generally reserved for special events, critical incidents, etc. Once they have completed their radio training, they are a 'real person that actually counts', haha. Many dispatch centers practically shun away new hires, not wanting to get to know them until they 'actually count'. This has gotten better over the years, but it still exists. Be prepared for this, and don't take offense if it occurs. You have to realize that Dispatch, (especially LE dispatch), has an average yearly turn-over of 17-21%, with the average years someone puts in before leaving being 5-7 years. These numbers have been improving luckily, thanks to Managers realizing times have changed, and we need to take care of each other. I highly recommend picking up Under the Headset. It's a great book that rookies and seasoned dispatchers should have. As far as hours go, like previously mentioned, that will be agency specific. Our agency works 4 10-hour shifts, rotating your days off every 28 days. An example would be having Fri-Sun off one month, followed by Mon-Wed the following. Rinse and repeat. Our dispatchers have 4 shifts available to bid on: 0600-1600, 1000-2000, 1600-0200, 2000-0600. They bid once per year, which is based primarily on seniority. Vacation is generally granted with at least 2 weeks notice, under 1 week then it would need to be special circumstances. Do not expect Vacation being approved for busy Holidays, (4th of July, New Years Eve), or major events in town, (for us in Central Texas, that would be things like the ROT Rally, F1 Races, SXSW, etc). Even seniority won't generally get you off during those events. Mandatory overtime is also common. Due to the earlier mentioned turn-over rate, it can, and sometimes is, the norm to get anywhere from 8-20 hours per week of overtime. However, it comes and goes based on staffing. You could have 6 months of working 50+ hour weeks, followed by 6 months of wishing you had any OT you could voluntarily sign up for. Bottom line - It is stressful. You need to learn to manage that stress. I won't give you the whole, "I feel like I helped my community every day of my 11 years" speech. I almost never felt that way. I did however feel pride in my job by getting the information I needed to keep my deputies safe and returning home to their better halves at the end of their shift. If you don't have a dark sense of humor, you will probably develop one. It's okay, as it's just anther coping mechanism for some of the things you will hear, both on the phone and the radio. As long as you don't let yourself become jaded you're still good. You will make good, (not great, but good), money if you choose this as a career field. you won't become rich, you won't be able to buy fancy cars, but you will have job security. You will likely have a decent pension plan, (even with the media repeating everything the tea party tells them about public pensions, the majority of States have sound DB plans in place. They're not all designed like the California mess out there). Madbullogna fucked around with this message at Feb 24, 2013 around 16:49 |
| # ? Feb 24, 2013 16:33 |
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Classroom training? Certs? That sounds nice! My prep before taking calls was sitting next to a dispatcher for a week and then... the L.A. riot!
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| # ? Feb 24, 2013 17:14 |
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Dick Trauma posted:Classroom training? Certs? That sounds nice! My prep before taking calls was sitting next to a dispatcher for a week and then... the L.A. riot! Haha, sounds familiar. We didn't develop a classroom program until around 2005-2006. I personally like the 'toss them in the deep end' approach, but understand why it was changed.
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| # ? Feb 24, 2013 19:47 |
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Here's a question for SO dispatchers: when a SO dispatcher calls me for information about a flight (for example, where the patient was taken), I am required to ask for a badge number and some background information on the scene to make sure the dispatcher is actually calling from the SO. Are SO dispatchers issued badges? Or where do you guys get the badge number from?
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| # ? Feb 24, 2013 20:27 |
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Niemat posted:Here's a question for SO dispatchers: when a SO dispatcher calls me for information about a flight (for example, where the patient was taken), I am required to ask for a badge number and some background information on the scene to make sure the dispatcher is actually calling from the SO. Are SO dispatchers issued badges? Or where do you guys get the badge number from? Our agency uses Employee numbers as badge numbers. Regardless of civilian, sworn LE or sworn Corrections. We just don't have anything to engrave ours on as civilians. We're lucky in that we just check CAD for other agency info. We went with Tritech in 2004, and everyone in our combined center is on it - Austin PD, Travis County SO, Austin Fire, Austin/TC EMS (they also dispatch for Star flight), Airport PD, along with limited integration with TXDoT and Capitol Metro, (public transit). Our CAD cards can be RA'd to each other for info sharing. Saves time on so many levels.
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| # ? Feb 24, 2013 22:00 |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atjzkVm1bb8 Is Mike Forbes your hero?
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| # ? Feb 24, 2013 23:00 |
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Unofficially...........
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| # ? Feb 25, 2013 01:39 |
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faarcyde posted:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atjzkVm1bb8 If I'd been in the room when he said that I'd have thrown something at him. I've handled some incredibly stupid calls and that one doesn't come close.
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| # ? Feb 25, 2013 05:16 |
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I monitor security/fire/medical/etc alarms nationwide and I have to say I really hate jurisdictions with a phone tree on the non-emergency lines. Also dispatchers that make me stay on the line until units arrive, you guys aren't my only alarm. 
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| # ? Feb 25, 2013 16:06 |
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Glad people from all sorts of pertinent fields were able to input, those wall of texts were full of good information. Thanks. General questions: one of you mentioned that newcomers will likely start on the graveshift for non-emergency calls. I assume you don't get a lot of non-emergency calls during those times, what do dispatchers do when they have prolonged periods of no calls? What's the saddest story you've had to dispatch for? The weirdest? Has the job caused any severe stress/emotional issues for you guys? What's your method of coping? I know this varies on jurisdiction, but what do uniforms do dispatchers generally wear? Also probably unlikely, and again this varies completely on jurisdiction, but would you reckon it's possible to request a reduction from full-time to part-time because you're currently in university? Madbullogna posted:You will likely have a decent pension plan, (even with the media repeating everything the tea party tells them about public pensions, the majority of States have sound DB plans in place. They're not all designed like the California mess out there). Starpluck fucked around with this message at Feb 26, 2013 around 02:34 |
| # ? Feb 26, 2013 02:01 |
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Starpluck posted:General questions: one of you mentioned that newcomers will likely start on the graveshift for non-emergency calls. I assume you don't get a lot of non-emergency calls during those times, what do dispatchers do when they have prolonged periods of no calls? What's the saddest story you've had to dispatch for? The weirdest? Has the job caused any severe stress/emotional issues for you guys? What's your method of coping? I know this varies on jurisdiction, but what do uniforms do dispatchers generally wear? During downtime you usually have nothing to do. When you're new you'll be reviewing polices and procedures but that gets old. On quiet shifts I learned to get very good at sitting there doing nothing, brain in neutral. I never read (where it was allowed) because I didn't want to be distracted for when the poo poo went down. One of the saddest stories was a call from an outpatient clinic. 12 year old girl had come in for a checkup of some sort and went into full arrest. Staff were not equipped for it and did their best while waiting for LAFD. Wasn't enough. Apparently she had no risk factors for heart problems so all involved were shocked. Dead people being found in their homes long after they'd died was sort of sad. No one missed them. Weird... I wouldn't say I had many truly weird calls, but maybe my standard is different from yours. There were plenty of hosed up situations due to addiction, criminals and their distorted thought processes, crazy people. Some calls you just can't tell what the hell is going on because the caller's are too amped up to express themselves properly and won't respond to your guidance. My primary stress wasn't due to the responsibilities, it was from my coworkers. I've worked with some great people, but I also worked with a gaggle of fuckheads, particularly in Denver. I won't bore you with the details but the environment they created was far more stressful than dealing with people dying/wanting to kill themselves. When your Sheriff ultimately winds up in jail, and one of your captains is diddling his daughter's underage friends you are not in a good agency.
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| # ? Feb 26, 2013 02:48 |
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Also, in your guys' experience, how has cellphone triangulation worked for you guys, was it frustrating to deal with?Dick Trauma posted:During downtime you usually have nothing to do. When you're new you'll be reviewing polices and procedures but that gets old. On quiet shifts I learned to get very good at sitting there doing nothing, brain in neutral. I never read (where it was allowed) because I didn't want to be distracted for when the poo poo went down. quote:Weird... I wouldn't say I had many truly weird calls, but maybe my standard is different from yours. There were plenty of hosed up situations due to addiction, criminals and their distorted thought processes, crazy people. Some calls you just can't tell what the hell is going on because the caller's are too amped up to express themselves properly and won't respond to your guidance. If you get a caller who's completely delusional and just rambling on about irrelevant bullshit (whether it be due to a mental illness or tripping on drugs), do you generally send units to his/her location (if you were able to obtain their address)? quote:My primary stress wasn't due to the responsibilities, it was from my coworkers. I've worked with some great people, but I also worked with a gaggle of fuckheads, particularly in Denver. I won't bore you with the details but the environment they created was far more stressful than dealing with people dying/wanting to kill themselves. When your Sheriff ultimately winds up in jail, and one of your captains is diddling his daughter's underage friends you are not in a good agency. Could you elaborate on how your coworkers were dicks? Was it cops who you were communicating with being dicks, fellow dispatchers in your office or upper-management? Starpluck fucked around with this message at Feb 26, 2013 around 03:08 |
| # ? Feb 26, 2013 03:01 |
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Starpluck posted:What's the saddest story you've had to dispatch for? A lot of them involve children.  Granted, I only get a call from the 911 dispatcher in the most severe cases that have to be flown, but every hosed up thing you can (and can't) think of someone doing to a toddler has happened (one time a guy stabbed his own toddler in the face, and the toddler was still alive when our crew got there, but died in their arms). Some days I go home, and I really just hate humanity. People tell me all the time you can't get too involved or too emotionally wrapped up in the job, and when I'm doing the job, I'm not, but it's in your down time that you start to think about what happened to bring you into the fold.
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| # ? Feb 26, 2013 16:23 |
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I had a call once from an outpatient clinic. 12 year old girl was there for a checkup and went into full arrest. They weren't equipped to deal with it so they were doing CPR while I got LAFD on the line. She didn't make it. In L.A. one of our officers saw people gathered in the street and being a jerk she got on the P.A. and ordered them to disperse instead of, you know, investigating why they were in the middle of the street. Turns out it was a rollerblading class. The instructor had led them down a really steep hill and he wiped out at the bottom. No helmet. She reported his age as being 30 but he turned out to be 50! Dude must've been in great shape. Not his brain though. He held on for a few days and then died. Calls where dead people have been discovered in their home long after dying were always sad. No one missed these people. When crazy people call 911 (didn't happen that often, even in L.A.) it was the supervisor or watch commander's decision if we were going to send. If they called repeatedly we'd send. If there was no reason to think there was an emergency we wouldn't. Sane people that were idiots were far more problematic.
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| # ? Feb 26, 2013 16:36 |
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Ask yourself if you'd be able to handle a mother sobbing hysterically that her baby isn't breathing or a father screaming he found his son floating in the pool. If you think you can, there isn't much else to worry about.
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| # ? Feb 26, 2013 17:00 |
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Or if you can deal with the suicide call where the guy was going to shoot himself and after about an hour of talking to him I hear a shot. Yeah, he was just "testing" the gun to make sure it would work. rear end in a top hat.
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| # ? Feb 26, 2013 17:13 |
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Orgophlax posted:Ask yourself if you'd be able to handle a mother sobbing hysterically that her baby isn't breathing or a father screaming he found his son floating in the pool. If you think you can, there isn't much else to worry about. Which reminds me of the time a coworker talked to a woman on the phone while she waited for EMS to show up... Her husband had a stroke, and he was fading fast. Understandably, the woman was screaming, sobbing, and otherwise hysterical. He died before EMS got there, and my coworker stayed on the phone until after they got there and pronounced him.
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| # ? Feb 27, 2013 04:09 |
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Having been on the other end of the radio: Please don't chew gum, eat, or drink stuff while you're on the mic. This should be self-evident, but it apparently isn't. Try recording yourself reading a couple paragraphs from a book or article, then wait a day or two and listen to it. If you can't understand what you're saying, work on your diction. Use a really lovely headset mic if you have one, since your department will probably use something similar. Pay loving attention to what people are telling/asking you. We had a dispatcher that we referred to as 10-9 Tahnee (10-9 being our code for "repeat last broadcast") because you'd say something and she'd almost always say "10-9?" That probably won't be too hard when you're new but as you do the job awhile it gets less exciting.
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| # ? Feb 28, 2013 02:16 |
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Orgophlax posted:Ask yourself if you'd be able to handle a mother sobbing hysterically that her baby isn't breathing or a father screaming he found his son floating in the pool. If you think you can, there isn't much else to worry about. Not only that, but get them to shut the gently caress up and answer questions in a way that doesn't make you liable for a lawsuit.
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| # ? Feb 28, 2013 02:28 |
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| # ? May 25, 2013 07:21 |
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I worked in local TV news in various municipalities and have listened to thousands of hours of scanner traffic, and interacted with a number of dispatchers and watch commanders. I have also seen all the stuff that you hear about on said scanner traffic. Just dropped in to say that hearing the bad news isn't as bad as it's portrayed here (for me). I will say that you turn a bit jaded, and jokes that other people think "isn't that going a bit too far?" you LOL about - but I never find myself wanting to break down into tears over something going on at a call. It's a profession, you learn to be professional, and you learn to handle it. For some people that involves an outlet after a stressful call, but if you can keep you wits about you, you'll be fine. On the bright side, there's nothing I can't handle now. You could light my hair on fire while looters hit at my car with 2x4s, and I'd just calmly steer around them, then pull over and extinguish myself. Seriously, nothing rattles me anymore.
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| # ? Feb 28, 2013 09:19 |
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