I'm too good for a back-up

[kspturnkey]

Stump; Your Bob sounds like a real puke. In a fight situation, with 2 cops coming on the scene, things can go to hell real quick, leaving litttle or no time for more help to get there before someone (a cop) is injured). You keep protecting your cops. One day, Bob may thank you for looking out for him.

[sw2copgirl]

Stump, good call. Keep doing what you do well: looking out for the officers.

[Thumper]

Officers will allways lament dispatchers have no idea what we go through, and dispatchers will allways whine officers have no idea what we do.

Dispatchers relay information, they do not order...they give direction. A good dispatcher gains respect from the officers by being unbiast, and trusting an officer to think for themselves.

When a dispatcher gets to a point where they think they are allways right, and no longer respects or trusts officers is when I believe you generate issues that lead to throwing the first rule of dispatching out the window, officer safety.

There comes a time when an officer can get so upset and annoyed with dispatch that they tune them out. And that can get someone hurt.

I am the secondary/emergency dispatcher at work, I am also the medic, the report writer (hey I only write this bad on the net! lol) and the floater.

So I get a piece of all the action when I have a good dispatcher.

You can tell when jabba the hut dispatch #1 is in base, all the officers on the floor are tired, moral is low, officers are not smiling, radio traffic has sarcastic edgey over tones and is just a general cluster f*ck.

We sometimes have dispatcher #2 (not me, mind you. Due to circumstances involving the #1 dispatcher, I am only the emergency dispatcher for #2) , when hes in base. Moral is high, people are smiling, radio traffic seems more jovial even though we are using the ten code, and we are doing our duites more efficently.

Dispatcher #1, is going to get an officer hurt.
Officers have a habit of tuning him out because we cannot stand him, and he orders us around like little kids who cant think for themselves.

Doing dispatch has great responsibility, but you are not god... and you should not command people as such.

Remember about what you were saying in regards to street smarts? This comes with time. And I think every officer has a bit of street smarts that they can give to base once in a while.

But thats me, what do I know. Im just a casino lacky, LOL....

Frankly I dont care if no one agrees with me.
This is just my opinion. But what it all boils down to is I dont think dispatch and officers are ever going to get along. LOL
Offcers can allmost be refered to as teenagers with car keys, and the dispatchers as the untrusting parents. LOL

T

[mcsap]

Yesterday , one of our less than stellar dispatchers gave out a call for a " CA ". We were taking on side channel among the 7 of us trying to see if we missed something. I finally asked if she meant a " CVA " meaning a cardio vascular anuerysm ( sp?) othwise known as a stroke for which we can do next to nothing to help. She just said , no , it is a Cardiac Arrest ! We never used those initials for such a priority call. We all carry AED's and have used them a number of times. This was a 34 yr old male who later died. Poss alcohol and drug overdose.

We don't use many 10 codes as a way to try to talk around the subject as they can send us MDC messages or we all have a cell to call in. Plain english works well for us.

[Stump]

I didn't really catch what you were trying to say about my situation, thumper.
I did see that you don't think dispatch and officers are ever going to get along. That may be true with your job, but we get along just fine here.
The first line of the police General Order (policy book) says "The dispatcher's word is law". Of course there are/were some dispatchers who thought they were God, but we do decide the jobs that go out. In order to keep control of my channel I must be the authoritative voice.
I have no idea what you are talking about as far as street smarts.

[Thumper]

"I'm sure you've heard the expression "street smarts"You can understand the theory perfectly, but when it comes to applying it, some can't do it."

Anyways, my point being that you in a way called into question a veteran cops "Street Smarts".

We talk in 10-code at work, because there are other departments that use different channels and we dont want a bunch of people showing up to a "fun" call as looky lous.
Dispatcher #2 allows us to speak plain english in good taste over the radio, where as dispatcher #1 wants us to use ten code, and if we cant we have to call him. Its annoying.

Good situation example MCSAP. Dispatcher getting a little froggy with the lingo and because you have no idea what they are thinking/talking about someone lost thier life.

Public Safety dispatchers differ greatly from the meak casino dispatching, but the principal is allmost the same.

I was just saying that people who actually work the streets think differently than those who are sheltered in a safe building (your fight in progress). And those two types of people arent allways going to agree on handling the same situation the same way.

I was just thinking maybe more than two officers arriving on scene would have esculated the situation, making the fighters more apt to fight the cops instead of themselves. With thier peers around they are not as likely to comply, or submit.




T

[Stump]

Originally posted by Thumper
[BI was just thinking maybe more than two officers arriving on scene would have esculated the situation, making the fighters more apt to fight the cops instead of themselves. With thier peers around they are not as likely to comply, or submit.
[/B]

Interesting theory. Does anyone else see this as a distinct possiblity?

[txinvestigator1]

From a dispatch and officer safety standpoint I completely DISagree with the quoted statement.

There is safety in numbers. There is no way to predict how suspects will react to the arrival of police, and even less way to anticipate how they will act regarding the number of officers who show up.

If they are inclined to fight the police due to their peers being around, then more officers should be sent.

[Officer Moe]

I would second that motion...About trainning our dispatchers that is.