Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) provides a flip chart which lists a series of questions for dispatchers to ask when receiving a medical call for assistance. That way they can get enough information to responding medical personnel. Is anything similar for Police related calls for assistance out there?

Same system. It's called NAEMD. There's also Powerphone and APCO. APCO IS 22k for Fire, EMS, and Police combined.

I dispatched for a few years before switching over to the LE side.  I never saw any kind of flip charts like that for Police calls, but I would bet you can come up with your own type of chart to make sure you cover the important bases.  Who, What, When, Where, and How are the basic MUST haves.  Who's committing the crime and Who are you?  What crime is being commited, What weapons are present/being used? When did the crime take place (this is important for priority calls, there is a HUGE difference between burglary in progress and burglary that took place hours ago)?  Where are you, Where is the crime/where did it occur, where is the suspect(s)? How is the victim, how is the suspect leaving the scene, how many suspects, etc?

If you're just getting into Dispatching, I would recommend you make your own honestly, because the brain tends to remember stuff much better when it's being written down vs when it's being read from a page.  Also, I'm curious to see if you find any commercial flip charts like this.

ETA: I see Sarge had provided some, those are new to me!  I'll have to look at them!

IM sent.

I'm not a dispatcher but nope. They go through 6 months of training and are expected to know everything after that... But they still don't get enough information half of the time.

Or the fail to update us with information in a timely manner. IE I'm driving at a high rate of speed to a priority call. My screen starts blinking to notify me that additional comments have been added to my CAD. Dispatch don't say anything for a few minutes and let me know the update.



Who what when where why & how really are the basics that anyone in LE should ask for.

Not new to dispatching, did my share as a rookie when they were short handed. I think we've evolved past just the who,what,when and where. Anyone that knows the questions that they ask now for medical calls understands that the same should be able to be transferred to Police calls.   For example, report of child that just ran away "missing person" complaint. Would it be asking too much to get child's name, physical and clothing description along with direction of travel? Responding units might actually pass the child enroute to call. Another is caller sees a burglary suspect enter neighbor's house, maybe keep caller on the line in case suspect leaves before units arrive. If suspect leaves, basic physical/clothing and direction of travel. One more for good measure- intoxicated person entering car at a popular convenience/gas store lot getting ready to drive off. (white male in blue car.) How about 2dr, 4dr, wagon,SUV,or pick up truck, could be different shades of blue and location in lot because there could be several blue cars.
Hopefully, what I'm describing isn't that common.

I need to see if I can find my books from dispatching but here in KY DOCJT gave us a flip chart book that covered police/fire calls. It has the basic Location,weapons,injuries,chemicals, and any other info at the top of every page as well as specific info for every call. I'd say my copy is buried somewhere with the rest of my police academy books.

If there is, our 911 center forgets to use it regularly
We can't even get them to stay on the line with the caller for important calls......

Holy shit, you too?  I think ours puts marbles in their mouths and then turn their headset mikes around to the back of their head before talking.

Yes there is a system, the company is the IAED or Internationl Academy of Emergency Dispatching. They are the same company who makes the protocol you were speaking of EMD, they have EPD as well Emergency Police Dispatching. It is the exact same set up as EMD except for LE calls. It works great for call and ensuring all the dispatchers get all the information needed. Even if it is a rookie dispatcher. They also make a protocol for FIRE as well.

Thanks, I will contact both IAED and NAEMD for information and hopefully a rep can stop in and provide more info. This will probably open a can of worms but something gotta get done.

I'm a dispatcher for a large SO in CA and we don't have cards, however we go through a fairly rigorous training process on what to get.  Not saying that it always happens, but we do try.

Mark

P.S. If any of you guys have other dispatch orientated questions feel free to ask! I however only do LE, can't help much with fire besides "Hold on a moment as I transfer you"

One of ours is actually called marble mouth
The rest all have various verbal tics and transmitting habits that everyone picks on eventually

Unfortunately all efforts to improve Police Dispatching was wasted. Lt. in charge doesn't want to hear it.