A really good dispatcher.....

[bluiis911]

Sure hope this is the correct forum. What do you think makes a really good dispatcher? :confused::

[Mac]

The best one I've ever worked with had a great sense of humor (both on and off the air!), and an uncanny knack for anticipating what the field troops were going to ask for without sounding like she was telling us how to do our job. In a pursuit, by the time you'd ask for air support and/or a K-9, she had already made the calls and either had them on the way or knew that they were unavailable. If we'd advise her to tell the allied agencies to stay out of it, she'd usually reply "Already 10-39". She'd often have the Thomas Guide out and be following the pursuit on the map, and would let you know if the suspect turned down a dead-end street, etc......especially nice to know when the pursuit goes into part of your area that you're not entirely familiar with! Also handy if you happened to miss a street sign and things went downhill - she could pretty well figure out where you were, and direct incoming units accordingly. I greatly appreciated her humor more than a few times during busy shifts, rain days, etc. - when you were getting hammered and were generally in a pretty dark mood, a little chuckle at something she said went a long way to lighten things up a bit.

One of her mannerisms that irked some of the troops was that if you ran a roller, she'd give the return and then ask "Are you going to be making a stop; and if so, your 10-20?". I asked her about it one time, and her reasoning was, "if you're running a roller, that means you thought there was something hinky about that car or the people in it.....so if you're going to stop it, I want to know where you are". Made perfect sense to me.

[Tom]

I have to add a funny dispatch story that we tell to this day. It happened about five years ago. The name is unimportant, however, she was a GREAT dispatcher.

Our area is very diverse, big city - freeway beats, rural area - county roads, etc. In the far eastern part of our area / county it is very agricultural. A farmer/landowner called dispatch one day to advise the area/units that he would be changing his water supply pipes for several days. Moving them onto the shoulder, roadway, etc. Just a common courtesy from a farmer.

The beat info came out like this, "19-406, Golden gate - info"

Unit 19-406 - "Go ahead to 406."

Golden gate - "406, for info, the landowner at ??? Byer road, he called to advise of some beat info, He advised that he would be moving his water supply and would BE LAYING PIPE FOR 3 DAYS."

TOTAL SILENCE.

Channel two traffic - "3 days straight!"

I'm still laughing at that one
:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:ops:

[Your Mentor]

Cool Tom.

I've worked such remote areas that the dispatchers have felt like beat partners. They've really taken care of me. In Death Valley they always checked on me if they hadn't heard anything for a while and always scrambled an army to back me up when things were tense. I think the best dispatcher, and I know there are a lot of them out there, is the true team player, as the one Mac described. I've had a few. It really kills me to hear griping at squad meetings toward dispatch. All of the offices I've worked had their own dispatch center and I just don't understand it. We're a team and that seems to get pushed aside by egos. We really are a team and that's is something that should be understood from the beginning of a shift to the end. I did work with one of the sourest dispatchers in Bishop many years ago. He retired a long time ago but hated young officers. He was in Newhall when that incident went down and really got snotty on the air. His tone was so vile that no one would call in during his shift unless they had too. When you're a new officer you really take it personally. I did and if I went 10-8 and heard his voice I'd just sink in my seat and curse. But since him I've met nothing but awesome dispatchers. We are useless as resources in the field without them. I really believe that. Of course many members or this forum are fortunate to have MDCs, a luxury I've never had the opportunity to enjoy. None of the rural offices have the telemetry to use them. So we go old school. That's okay though because I like hearing their voices. One dispatcher, who called me out a lot, called me once for ANOTHER fatal when I was down five TCs, two of which were fatals. She was so sympathetic and kind that I couldn't help but muster the motivation, suit up, and cruise out to take yet another one. In fact, in Death Valley, the only other voice I heard every day was the dispatchers. I worked alone out there for the first four years. One thing I thought was cool in Bishop is that one of the gals there, just for fun, would wear the old dispatcher's uniform (tan shirt and tan skirt with tiny patches). She did it to remind us that we're all working together. Why don't they wear those anymore?

[bluiis911]

I've been with CHP for 15+ years and have only seen the uniform the comm ops used to wear in pictures. I'm sure the uniforms were dropped for financial reasons. At a couple of centers I've been in we've even talked about polo shirts with CHP Communications on them. When I was in Santa Ana one of the dispatchers ordered really nice, warm jackets for all of us. I'd also like to see the Comm Centers back at the area office-but I don't think that's going to happen. The Comm Center I'm supervising is in the CalTrans building about 8 miles from the area office. I miss the one on one, the opportunity to tell an officer what a great job they did or to ask why they did something the way they did. I've always felt that dispatch gets the original call of an incident but seldom knows the final outcome. Being so far away from the officers really adds to that frustration. That's just a couple of the things that I'd like to see change. But I really love what I do. It's fun, interesting and exciting.
Here's my "funny" dispatch story.....Several years ago we were testing the wireless microphones..kind of like the McDonald's drive up window. At the same time we had an officer on light duty that used to be a dispatcher. She came in to dispatch to help us out. She was working the radio with one of the "new" microphones and trying to get a sgt to answer her. After several tries she said (outloud, to whoever could hear)77-S3 if you'd get your head out of your *** maybe you could hear dispatch". Well, she was leaning against the desk and her wireless mic was keyed. She says she was lucky the sgt had a good sense of humor. I'm not sure I know any sgts with THAT good of a sense of humor! And, I don't remember which area it was so 77 was a "throwdown area".

[bcjack]

A good dispatcher is one that has a good attitude, is friendly, both on the air and in person, and gives you all of the relevant information on a call without you having to play "20 questions". A good dispatcher also has the "Sixth Sense" kind of like the field personnel have. They have the ability to "Feel" that an incident is "Just not right" and shares that feeling with you.

Being a dispatcher is a thankless job...Many times they are cussed because they "Didn't do it right"...Very seldom are they thanked for "Doing it right"...Thank you for all that you do and all that you put up with!!!