Posted: 4/10/2009 5:07:15 AM EDT
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Am I the only other 911/Police/Fire/Medical dispatcher around here? Surely I can't be.
Speak up! |
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I was for 2.5 years if that helps... I couldn't stand the long drone hours of sitting around answering phones, so I joined the blue... I have been doing it for over two years and I had my fun. Now time to hit the street. Anyone else go from dispatch to patrol? |
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Ive been a dispatcher for 15 years, as well as a reserve deputy sheriff for 11. We dispatch police, fire and EMS. I work at a county regional communications center. The boredom is a struggle at times, but we have our own laptops to surf the net when slow. 12 hour night shifts is what I work.
For me, I consider the job very easy. I am not easily excited, and do not have a problem multi-tasking. We make decent pay for our area, and have a very good benefit package. Being a reserve deputy allows me "play cop" when I feel like it. I would not want to be a full time law enforcement officer. Granted I am still a deputy even when not working in that capacity, but I prefer working dispatch full time to law enforcement. At least with dispatch I have a set schedule, and know when I am getting off shift. I don't have to worry about a PI accident at the end of shift dragging my work day over for 4 or 5 hours. To anyone thinking about a career in dispatch, try to get a chance to sit in a dispatch center on a fri or sat night for a few hours to see if you think you can handle it. It takes a certain personality to survive in dispatch for more than a few years. |
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snip. To anyone thinking about a career in dispatch, try to get a chance to sit in a dispatch center on a fri or sat night for a few hours to see if you think you can handle it. It takes a certain personality to survive in dispatch for more than a few years. This. I like being a dispatcher, I enjoy my job and have fun doing it. I also work in a regional dispatch center and work nights as well, I work 5 eight hour shifts each week. If I had your schedule, I might like it more. However, I can't see myself doing it forever. So I want to go to patrol, no offense to those of you who choose this position for a career. We have a very important job telling the cops where to go! |
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We used to work 8 hour shift, our schedule sucked. I work 2 days on 2, off now, and work 4 hours on friday. I have every other weekend off, plus enough days off during the week to have a second job. If it wasn't for the schedule, I would probably be getting burnt out by now.
Like I said before I dont get easily excited, I think this is a crucial requirement for a dispatcher. No matter how calm a person is, there will still be things that can cause extra stress. I was on the phone with two people that were murdered within the last year. I heard both of them begging for their lives, and know that I was the last person that one of them spoke with. It makes the job hard at times. |
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It does, you either have what it takes or you don't. There is no in between. Your schedule seems really nice, we want to work 4 tens instead of what we have. If it was set up right, we would get two weekends off in a row, 3 or 4 days, depending on the rotation we would fall under on the schedule. I really like it and someday I may return to dispatch, but for now I want to be on the street.
It really is stressful, I was talking to a person that actually made it through a train/car accident, her friend died instantly and I was the last person to talk to her. She asked me to tell her family goodbye for her and that she loved and would miss them. That was rough. Train accidents are the only thing that makes me nervous, well and when officers yell for assistance. Yikes! |
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I was for 2.5 years if that helps... I couldn't stand the long drone hours of sitting around answering phones, so I joined the blue... I have been doing it for over two years and I had my fun. Now time to hit the street. Anyone else go from dispatch to patrol? In the process..........just got done with my Poly and Psych. Only been in dispatch for just under a year. |
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I was for 2.5 years if that helps... I couldn't stand the long drone hours of sitting around answering phones, so I joined the blue... I have been doing it for over two years and I had my fun. Now time to hit the street. Anyone else go from dispatch to patrol? In the process..........just got done with my Poly and Psych. Only been in dispatch for just under a year. Going to Patrol was the best decision of my life. I had planned on doing it from the get-go, but the dispatch job was there when the PD job wasn't. I laugh now-a-days, b/c our dispatch blows... People always telling me to go easy on dispatch because I expect too much from them. I look at them like  because I dispatched Police, Fire, and EMS, usually just me and 1 partner, whereas all the other shifts had 3-4. I'm talking 5 Police Agencies, 7 Fire Departments, 1 EMS, and 1 Rescue Squad between 2 dispatchers, whereas my dispatch here is Police ONLY, 1 Precinct, which is 7-8 officers total. They are dedicated to each channel... It is NOT that hard to dispatch 7-8 people by yourself. When I'm not running calls, I still catch myself keeping track of the other officers in the precinct, because I know, I KNOW, that there will be 1 time when the dispatcher misses something and somebody needs help... As I tell the others, I'll take it easy on dispatch when they get their head out of their ass and do their job correctly. Stop watching TV and keying up the radio laughing like a friggin hyena...
Ok, ok, I'm good... 
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I was for 2.5 years if that helps... I couldn't stand the long drone hours of sitting around answering phones, so I joined the blue... I have been doing it for over two years and I had my fun. Now time to hit the street. Anyone else go from dispatch to patrol? In the process..........just got done with my Poly and Psych. Only been in dispatch for just under a year. Going to Patrol was the best decision of my life. I had planned on doing it from the get-go, but the dispatch job was there when the PD job wasn't. I laugh now-a-days, b/c our dispatch blows... People always telling me to go easy on dispatch because I expect too much from them. I look at them like because I dispatched Police, Fire, and EMS, usually just me and 1 partner, whereas all the other shifts had 3-4. I'm talking 5 Police Agencies, 7 Fire Departments, 1 EMS, and 1 Rescue Squad between 2 dispatchers, whereas my dispatch here is Police ONLY, 1 Precinct, which is 7-8 officers total. They are dedicated to each channel... It is NOT that hard to dispatch 7-8 people by yourself. When I'm not running calls, I still catch myself keeping track of the other officers in the precinct, because I know, I KNOW, that there will be 1 time when the dispatcher misses something and somebody needs help... As I tell the others, I'll take it easy on dispatch when they get their head out of their ass and do their job correctly. Stop watching TV and keying up the radio laughing like a friggin hyena...
Ok, ok, I'm good... Amen brother....I dispatch 6 LE, 16 FIre, 10 EMS and more. Plus answer 911 calls. If they are telling you to go easy...your agency needs to train better dispatchers or get new ones. |
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I was for 2.5 years if that helps... I couldn't stand the long drone hours of sitting around answering phones, so I joined the blue... I have been doing it for over two years and I had my fun. Now time to hit the street. Anyone else go from dispatch to patrol? In the process..........just got done with my Poly and Psych. Only been in dispatch for just under a year. Well at least you understand what dispatch is for, instead of some officers that think anyone or they could do what we do. Only certain people understand this. The public does not know what we do. Officers learn with time that they would not be able to do what we do. Thanks for fighting the good fight! Everyone stay safe! |
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Coming up on 9 years as a dispatcher, now. Seven and a half years at the county, where I made it to shift super, then came over to the state for less stress and better hours. Now I'm dispatching at night and going to the LEO academy in the evenings, and hopefully will be an honest-to-God, donut-munchin' cop by the end of the year. |
| I'm the midnight supervisor for my department's 911 center. We handle all the 911 calls and the dispatching to the field units. Here it's done seperately, the 911 operators handle the initial calls and seperate the Fire EMS and police calls and the Police Dispatchers work either a district or our "City-Wide" channel. I have on average 15 911 operators, 14 dispatchers, 2 911 lead operators (supervisors) and at least one Emergency Dispatch Supervisor. I'm the only full time sworn Police on the floor although there are other sworn Police within the unit. |
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I appreciate a good dispatcher. We have some here. Not a job I want to do myself. Back in the day when dispatch was in the PD I got asked to help out and answer phones. People screaming that their baby is not breathing or their child is floating in the pool is tough.
I'd rather go deal with it than hear it on the phone and be stuck in one place. |
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I've been dispatching for a few years at this point. However, I'm P.O.S.T. certified and help with serving warrants/patrol whenever I feel like it. Clearly my shift likes me as they get pissed when they have to work with the other shift. I also work straight nights whenever the really interesting people come out to play. All in all it's not a bad job at all.
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I've been dispatching for a few years at this point. However, I'm P.O.S.T. certified and help with serving warrants/patrol whenever I feel like it. Clearly my shift likes me as they get pissed when they have to work with the other shift. I also work straight nights whenever the really interesting people come out to play. All in all it's not a bad job at all.I am the same way, the officers love when I am working because I do my job and I do it well (not to brag). They are excited for me to turn blue but at the same time they want me to stay in dispatch. |
| I think that dispatch is a lot more enjoyable when you get along with your shift. We joke around and go to the camp on our time off. I usually don't associate with co workers, but these are some great guys to work with. A lot of people look down on dispatch, but it's one of the best jobs around, imo. |
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I'm the midnight supervisor for my department's 911 center. We handle all the 911 calls and the dispatching to the field units. Here it's done seperately, the 911 operators handle the initial calls and seperate the Fire EMS and police calls and the Police Dispatchers work either a district or our "City-Wide" channel. I have on average 15 911 operators, 14 dispatchers, 2 911 lead operators (supervisors) and at least one Emergency Dispatch Supervisor. I'm the only full time sworn Police on the floor although there are other sworn Police within the unit. Serious question: What is the need for a sworn LE as dispatch supervisor instead of non-sworn? The reason I ask is I recently saw an article in the paper talking about Oakland PD POA stating they will fight having sworn officers removed as dispatch supv as a cost cutting measure. The 'feeling' I got from the article was that the sworn LE supv position was a gravy train position and the guy in the supv role had been off the street long enough to have forgotten any street level info that might be useful. Brian |
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Brian, my belief is that it has a lot to do with the "you're either a cop or you're not" mentality that I've seen in so many places. There was a concerted push at one agency before the budget crunch in which the command staff wanted a sworn officer in every office normally populated by civilian personnel, to "oversee" the civilians and make sure they did their jobs right. At my last agency, for a time, there was a deputy who was given the position of dispatch supervisor, um, supervisor. Even though we fell under the command of sworn captain, there was still a desire to take a badge and gun from other duties and stick them in with us. I believe it's a certain level of mistrust of anybody who doesn't tote a badge and a gun, even within their own agencies. Perhaps they feel that a sworn officer has more to lose if they screw up. Hell, a long time back, I posted about a problem I had with an agency that would not arrest a wanted person just on the say-so of a dispatcher, and was told by one or more cops in this forum that they wouldn't arrest a person just on what a dispatcher said, either. I guess dispatchers can't read arrest warrants and such as well as cops can. 
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I was for 2.5 years if that helps... I couldn't stand the long drone hours of sitting around answering phones, so I joined the blue... +1 I did 2.5 years Dispatching, put myself through the academy while working. Dispatched for the county. Then patrolled the county for 2.5 years (5 total with county) then last september moved to a city PD for more money. Best move I have made! |
| Brian, I'll be the first to admit that my present job has advantages over my time on the street both as a Patrol Supervisor and as a Detective Supervisor. I am however responsible for more people and making sure they do their jobs as well as making notifications and 'judgement' calls on what gets dispatched when there are questions. I deal with our command staff and PIO on noteworthy events and having street experience know what questions to ask of field units and what they might need. Our Dispatchers and 911 operators are all civilians so I have to know their rules & regulations as well as their contract benefits/requirements. |