UNSUNG HEROES OF PUBLIC SAFETY
by Chief Thomas Wagoner, Loveland (CO) Police Dept. : Written for his Telecommunications Staff
Someone once asked me if the job of receiving emergency 9-1-1 calls was a proffession. I said "Yes." And so is dispatching police, fire and EMS units to those calls. I have felt in my public safety career that dispatchers are the unsung heroes in public safety. They don't get the excitement of riding in a speeding car with lights flashing and sirens wailing, and they can only imagine bright flames and dense smoke coming from a burning building. Noe do they get to see the joy in the face of worried parents as their child begins to breathe on his own after being given CPR.
Dispatchers sit in darkened rooms, looking at computer screens and talking to voices from faces they never see about incidents they almost never know the outcome of, just like starting many books but never finishing any. Dispatchers connect the anxious conversations of terrified victims, angry informants, suicidal citizens and grouchy officers. They are the calming influence to all of them, the quiet, competent voice in the night that provides the bridges between sanity and safety.
They are expected to gather information from people who can't remember where they live, what their names are or what they just saw. Then they calmly provide that information to officers, firefighters and paramedics without error, the first time, every time.
Dispatchers are expected to do many things at once and do all of them well. While questioning a frantic caller, they must type information into a computer, alert another dispatcher, put another caller on hold, listen to an officer's request for a check on a license plate on a traffic stop or a firefighter's request that a hose line be charged. To miss the plate number or call for order would raise the ire of the officer or the firefighter and endanger them. The officer and firefighter will never know what a dispatcher goes through.
Dispatchers have two constant companies - other dispatchers and stress. They depend on one and tru to ignore the other. They are chastised by upset callers, taken for granted by the public and criticized by the units whose safety they hold in their hands. The rewards they get are infrequent, except for the satisfaction they feel at the end of of the shift, having done what they're expected to do - be professional.
Dispatchers come in many shapes and sized, all races, both sexes and all ages. They are blonds, brunettes and redheads. They are quiet and outgoing, single and married, plain, beautiful or handsome. No two are alike and yet all are them same - dedicated.
They are people who are hired in a difficult hiring process to do an impossible job. They are as different as snowflakes, but have one thing in common - they care about people and enjoy being the lifeline of society, the sane voice in a storm that knows how to handle every emergency and does it with style, grace and uncompromising competence.
Dispatchers play many roles: therapist, lawyer, teacher, weather reporter, guidance counselor, psychologist, minister, secretary, supervisor, politician and news reporter. Few people must jump through the emotional hoops on a routine tour of duty, as they handle the joy of one's person noisy birthday party, the fear of another caller's burglary-in-progress, another caller's fire in a bedroom, and an angry neighbor whose driveway is blocked by a parked car, a person who's suicide and a report of an elderly person who's been struck by a car - all in two minutes. What a job!!
This emotional roller coaster comes to a stop after and eight-, 10-, or 12-hour shift. They will then walk to their cars with steady feet and no queasiness in their stomachs, because they are dispatchers.
If dispatchers hold their emotions in, they're called indifferent. If they talk about them, they're called whiners. If it bothers them, it adds more stress. If it doesn't bother them, they question themselves and wonder why.
Dispatchers are expected to have the compassion of Mother Theresa, the wisdom of Solomon, the interviewing skills of Oprah Winfrey, the gentleness of Florence Nightengale, the patience of Jobe, the looks of Faith Hill or Harrison Ford, the voice of Barbara Streisand, the knowledge of Einstein, the answers of Ann Landers, the humor of David Letterman, the investigative skill of Sgt. Joe Friday, the faith of Billy Graham, the energy of James Brown and the endurance of the Energizer Bunny.
Is it any wonder so many drop out of training? It is truly unique and talented person who can do this job and do it well. It is then only fitting and proper we take time (today) to honor you for the job you do. The recognition is overdue and insufficient, but sincere. It takes a very special person with unique skills to be a dispatcher. We admire you and thank you for the thankless job you do.
You are truly heroes in your own unique way, and we are appreciative and proud to know you, to work with you and to recognize you.
Our Job Description:
Obtaining information from individuals in emergency situations, including those who are emotionally distraught, angry or difficult to understand; assessing and prioritizing emergency situations; remaining calm and making rapid and sound independent judgments in stressful emergency situations; operating complex radio, telephone, computer and teletype systems; memorizing codes, names, locations and other detailed information; communicating tactfully and effectively with the public........ and the median expected salary for a typical Dispatcher - Emergency in the United States is $26,967....which breaks down roughly to about $14/hr.
something seems kinda wrong with that picture, wouldn't you agree considering the average salary for a roofer is between $40K-$50K and can go as high as $70K-$80K!!!!
