Have you ever wondered who answers the phone when you dial 9-1-1? We have dispatchers who answer our phones. However, it’s not as simple as that. Before being allowed to dispatch, a dispatcher has to complete a 3-week, POST approved dispatch academy. POST stands for Police Officer Standards and Training and is the organization that governs what type of training police personnel (including officers) receive. After completing the dispatch academy, a dispatcher’s education continues with training for 9 to 12 months under the tutelage of an experienced dispatcher before that trainee is allowed to handle the dispatch station alone.

We have a minimum of 3 dispatchers working at any one time. One dispatcher answers the phones, listens to complaints and enters the information into a computer database. That dispatcher also prioritizes the calls. In other words, that dispatcher needs to know that a robbery in progress is going to have a higher priority than a loud party complaint.

A second dispatcher takes the information given by dispatcher #1 and disseminates that information via radio to the officers in the field.

The third dispatcher handles a second channel on the radio. This radio channel is reserved to assist officers who may be conducting some type of investigation. For instance, an officer may stop a car where the driver of the car does not have a license in his possession. That officer may use the second radio channel to ask the dispatcher to check on Department of Motor Vehicle records to confirm whether or not the driver has a valid driver’s license. The dispatcher would also advise if that person has warrants for his arrest or if he is on probation or parole. The reason that we don’t conduct this type of business on the primary radio channel is because the primary radio channel needs to be available if an emergency should occur.

Dispatchers are, in a nutshell, our lifeline. They need to know where each officer is at all times. If an officer makes a traffic stop and doesn’t indicate within a few minutes whether or not everything is okay, the dispatcher will try and reach that officer by radio to determine their status. If the officer does not respond, the dispatcher will send someone to check on the safety of that officer.

If a crime occurs and a suspect runs away from us, we may have to set up a containment to try and catch the crook. Dispatchers are able to coordinate with officers responding to the scene, advising them where they need to set up in order to contain the bad guy. They can also communicate with a police helicopter that may be assisting in the search.

In traumatic situations, the dispatcher will stay on the phone with the caller until officers arrive on scene. Oftentimes, the dispatcher can hear the crime occurring in the background. When an officer is involved in a difficult situation a reassuring dispatcher’s voice may be the only thing that keeps the officer calm. Dispatchers are often counted on to keep victims and witnesses calm. Just a couple of days ago, a 9-1-1 call came in about a man having difficulty breathing. The dispatcher sent the paramedics to the location. The dispatcher also recognized the victim had symptoms of a possible heart attack and advised the caller to start Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation. The caller had never performed CPR, so the dispatcher coached him through it until the paramedics arrived.

In a situation like that, the dispatcher who answered the call has to dedicate his/herself to the person on the phone and the other dispatchers in the dispatch center have to pick up the slack. Usually, the dispatcher who was handling officer’s requests for information has to do double duty and also answer phones. With over 500 calls per day, the dispatch center can be extremely hectic.

In an earlier blog, I stated that we handle, on average, about 125,000 incidents per year. The average officer on the street might handle several hundred of those incidents, but our dispatchers hear every single one of those complaints as they come in through the phone lines.

The dispatcher is an extremely valuable asset to any police department. Dispatcher is a job that requires the ability to multi-task while remaining calm under an extreme amount of pressure, not just from the general public, but also from police officers requesting vital information.

I’ve heard that the only job more stressful than police dispatcher is air traffic controller. I don’t think that I have the temperament to do either job, but I’m glad that there are people who do. They make my job a lot easier.

Thanks for participating.