Thank you, telecommunicators, for answering millions of phone calls to keep our community safe. In the last year you answered millions of 911 calls, non-emergency calls, requests from nearby agencies. You took walk-up reports and requests for information. You handled requests and radio traffic from officers. You are the vanguard of a process designed to mitigate criminal activity, protect property, and save lives. You are the forefront administrators of the criminal justice system, fire, and medical services. Thank you, telecommunicators, for being a calm and confident voice on the other end of a phone. We often comment that people don’t typically call emergency services during the best times of their lives, which is true, but doesn’t explain the full range of callers you’ve helped. You’ve comforted young kids during traumatic events and sparked action out of inaction. You’ve calmed the hysterical and saved the suicidal. You’ve played impromptu hostage negotiators and negotiated peaceful surrenders. You’ve played impromptu doctors and telephonically delivered children. You deal with non-emergencies on 911 and emergencies on the non-emergency lines. You’ve heard it all and seen none of it. Thank you, telecommunicators, for keeping our officers safe. The public often loses sight of the day to day police work that is no less inherently dangerous then events resulting in an officer’s death. Police work is likely one of the most dangerous domestic jobs, but police fatalities are still relatively uncommon because we work to keep them safe. From calltakers having intuition to ask a non-standard question to a dispatcher recognizing an officer’s shift in tone-of-voice and sending a backup unit. Telecommunicators day in and day out support the officers in the field and do everything possible from the other end of a radio and telephone to keep them safe. Only You can tell policemen and firemen where to go.
Thank you, telecommunications, for being the unseen heroes of our everyday lives. Happy National Telecommunicators Week.
Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls 911. He gasps: "My friend is dead! What can I do?"
The 911 Operator says: "Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead."
There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says: "OK, now what?"
You Might Be a Dispatcher If...
You can carry on more than 4 conversations simultaneously!
You have a bladder capacity of a tanker!
You can resume a conversation with co-workers 4 hours later, in mid-sentence and everyone knows that you are talking about!
You have a long term telephonic relationship with one or more paranoid schizophrenic PTSD suffering relatives of a public official.
You have ever had to explain to a college educated, gainfully employed, tax paying property owner that: His/her child's lack of interest in vegetables was not a police matter!
You inform your new teenage driver, "I will always know!"
You have ever muttered the phrase: "They let him carry a GUN?"
You find yourself typing "height" and "weight" instead of "width" and "height" when adding dimensions to the HTML "IMG SRC" tags on your web-site.
You answer your home phone "9-1-1, what is your emergency?"
You spend more on fast food than utilities.
You see nothing wrong with eating a Taco Bell Grande Meal or pizza at 3 a.m
You consider coffee an indispensable work tool.
You answer your home phone "dispatch".
You answer dispatch phone "hell" instead of "hello".
The only thing that gets your adrenaline going is the walk to and from your car.
You find humor in other people's misery.
You're only happy if you have something to complain about.
You consider patience a weakness ,not a virtue.
Your idea of a good night involves someone burning a house down, getting shot, chased or dismembered.
You have forgotten what it is like to actually eat a warm meal.
Your dog doesn't recognize you and the kids think you're just the person who drops by every now and then to bring groceries and do the laundry.
You think it's funny when a would-be suicide gets bored waiting for the gas from the stove to do it's thing and lights a cigarette to pass the time resulting in an explosion that leaves her neighbors homeless but she still survives.
You truly believe stupidity should be painful.
Dinner consist of a 2 liter bottle of soda and whatever you can scrounge out of the vending machine.
Antacid tablets, or better known as dispatcher candy, become your regular desert.
You read newspaper accounts of a major incident that occurred during your shift and can point out all the incorrect information...and then laugh about it.
Family members comment about how nice you "used" to be before you started this job.
You believe in aerial spraying of Prozac and/or birth control over certain parts of your city.
You have no idea what a holiday is, other than it's the day when everyone gets drunk and beats up their family members.
You can resume a conversation with coworkers 4 hours later in mid-sentence and everyone knows what you are talking about.
You have a long term telephonic relationship with one or more paranoid schizophrenic PTSD suffering relatives of a public official.
You inform your teenager," I will always know".
You get impatient listening to people relate a story - You want "just the facts".
You believe 90% of people can't look up a telephone number.
You get easily bored with happy content people.
You can talk on the phone, listen to the radio and type request into the computer at the same time without missing anything.
You think it is funny when a "regular client" kills himself while breaking into a business.
You can give directions to any location in your city off the top of your head.
You refuse to allow anyone to say "have a quiet shift".
You believe that the statement, "It sure is quiet!" will bring down the wrath of god upon you.
You can give anyone the exact address of every bar in your jurisdiction.
You question the motives of anyone who makes an effort to get to know you after they learn your profession.
You know the phone number of every restaurant or business that delivers food, especially late at night.
You spell everything phonetically.
You can only tell time on a 24 hour clock.
You acknowledge your friends and families remarks with the time.
You have spent time explaining to officers, firefighters or EMTs the difference between a dispatcher and a personal assistant.
You live in fear of a full moon.
You are on a first name basis with every crazy lunatic in your jurisdiction.
You find no comfort in knowing that the equipment that you depend on to do your job and protect others was purchased at the lowest bid possible.
You respond faster to the name "RADIO" or "CENTRAL" than you do to your own name.
You find yourself talking to family and friends in codes.
You have a tendency to giggle at your friends "big" problems.
You respond 10-4 when told to please pull around to the first window at a fast food restaurant.
You tell cops and firefighters where to go without fear.
