by Shannon O’Neil-Huntoon of the SDSD Communications Center
Dispatcher Appreciation Week
Welcome. Some of you know me, and to those I say hello. Some of you are reading me for the first time, and to you, I say…well, also hello. And also, buckle up, because I tend to do things a little different in the “Station M” station report. Recently, when I realized Dispatcher Appreciation Week was fast approaching, it stirred the memory of how much I used to really love writing for the Silver Star. For background, know that I wrote the “Station M” column for several years.
In all my reminiscing I found I couldn’t put my finger on why I stopped writing for the Silver Star. I think life just kinda happened and, rather rudely, just kept on happening. Pretty soon the days were full of the have-to’s in life and less of the want-to’s.
This epiphany drew my attention to the empty little place inside me the article once filled. I loved being a part of this community, sharing stories and anecdotes. I loved making new friends with readers who emailed me their own stories that paralleled or spotlighted the tales I’d told. Above all else, I loved making you all smile and laugh; sparking that sweet nostalgia that can only be felt while steeped happily in retirement or triggering that bone-deep empathy that can only be felt between members of the First Responder community. What is it the Tiktokers say? “If you know, you know.”
So if you do, in fact, know the thrill of helping save a life, the sadness of a lost compatriot, and the eye-searing migraine that comes with a reporting party demanding to be triangulated because they don’t know their own location, well then this article, I boldly state, is for you! But, where to begin?
I decided, in honor of this not-so-maiden voyage of “Station M” and in recognition of Dispatcher Appreciation Week April 11-17, to write an article highlighting The Dispatcher. What do they love, and what do they loathe? Some may fear such topics are taboo. To this I say: fear not! I hereby volunteer as tribute for the slings and arrows that some of these truths may let slip. Why, you ask? Am I insane? Nay nay, I am but a person who believes she can craft these stories in a way that respects both sides of the phone and radio conversations dispatchers handle every day and bring us all together in laughter and solidarity. So, once again…walk this way, won’t you?
911 Dos and Don’ts
Okay, we are gonna jump right in here with some good ol’ pet peeves. Don’t be nervous; I don’t plan on spilling any sensitive tea. Rather, I will highlight a few things that are known to give every dispatcher a bit of an eye twitch. I promise you could present this ‘Don’t Do It’ list to any dispatcher from any agency and you would get a collective “yeeesssss” from across the land.
First, the average member of the public needs to understand that there is no solitary, all-powerful call center that gets routed all the 911 calls in the U.S.A. Unfortunately, if Nana fell in Chicago and you call me in San Diego, I cannot route you over to Chi-town with the press of a button. I wish I could! In all honesty, the connectivity between agencies is growing every day, but we are not quite there yet. And it doesn’t help that law enforcement-centric TV shows are more about the fiction than the facts. So, when I try to route you to the better point of contact, please – please! – do not insist I am in error because you saw them do it on 9-1-1: Lonestar last week. I love Sierra McClain and Rob Lowe, too, but they are not here, and they cannot transfer you. Sorry.
Deputies, bless their hearts, are not immune to being a catalyst for a twitch. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen, here at the Communication Center and documented on dispatcher-orientated social media forums, this common complaint. For instance, say a dispatcher sends a deputy a call to assist the fire department with a vehicle fire. Better than half the time, the deputy will come back with, “Can I get a better description on the vehicle?” Insert long pause on the air here, please. Yet, professionals that we are, dispatchers will callback for those additional descriptors, but, in the meantime, I can’t describe to you the Herculean effort taking place to not just say, “Flame-colored…rapidly turning charcoal grey.”
Honestly, these critiques are all in good fun, and some of these things might even seem anomalous, but there are a few things that occur consistently enough they deserve being mentioned. Some such eyelid tweaking-trends include persons who respond to the dispatcher’s opening gambit of “911 emergency” with the bold and utterly confident response of “It’s not an emergency but…” Those 5 words make up less than .003% of the 170,000 words studies say make up modern day English, and yet person after person snatches them out of the ether to form the exact same twitchy sentence. The mind boggles. And, FYI, that is all the math you guys are getting from me; I am on night shift and have given up coffee, so you’re basically just lucky I am vertical.
Other examples include people who reply “here” when asked their locations. Unfortunately, for as intuitive as our mapping system is, ‘here’ is not a verifiable location. While we are at it, neither is “…that place where that thing happened that time.” In fairness, law enforcement is not immune to providing poor location information. I personally was privy to a story of an unnamed agency’s officer who, lost in a desolate area, attempted to describe his location to air support as “…directly under the moon.” So, there ya go. All’s fair and equal in dispatching angst.
Okay, enough of the negative. What do dispatchers love? That’s easy; we love people who know their locations, understand the definition of an emergency, and respect law enforcement. We also love deputies who speak clearly, pre-call and who know to walk away for the screaming burglary alarm before keying up to provide updates. We love callers who do not put the person with difficulty breathing on the phone to answer questions, and deputies who know to use their full call sign when switching to Inquiry (at any given time there are seven Paul Sixes on the air). But most of all, we here at dispatch love sunny calls and good dispositions! So, to end this installment, let me pull out one of each so we can all walk away with a little education, understanding, and a few grins!
A New Kind of Victim-Blaming
A young man called the Communications Center to seek counsel after a friend accused him of stealing money from his checking account. In more detail, the friend was accusing the caller of using his ATM card to make unauthorized withdrawals. The dispatcher asked the caller point-blank if he had, in fact, been using his friend’s ATM card without permission. The caller hemmed and hawed for a bit, but then did eventually admit to several transactions. In a dead-serious tone, the caller defended his actions to the dispatcher: “I only have his code because he was too lazy to get out of the car to get money, so I did it for him. So, this is really all his fault for giving me the code, right?” I see a future in politics for this young man. Just sayin’.
Breaking Down Stereotypes
A man called 911 seeking a deputy’s assistance in a very critical matter. Seems the manager of the local Dunkin Donuts had chosen to close up shop a little earlier than normal, thus thwarting our caller’s quest for the viscera nirvana that is the humble donut. When denied a donut, who better but a cop to feel your pain and defend your rights to fired bread. Unfortunately for out caller, it did not quite turn out that way as witnessed by this fantastic dispo!
“After listening to [the reporting party’s] long and seemingly endless story about how he desired donuts from Dunkin Donuts’ inventory, and how he was unable to obtain said donuts, I was able to determine no crime had occurred. I asked [the reporting party] what he genuinely believed law enforcement would be able to do for him? He replied, ‘I don’t know, I just want those donuts.’
“I advised, due to the hour and the closure of said Double-D, no donuts were likely to be entering his gastrointestinal parts. I asked if there was anything else I could do for him. The [reporting party] sighed in response, sounding defeated and demoralized for his late-night snacking session.”
Well, I want to personally thank this deputy for not only tearing down long-entrenched stereotypes about cops and all they will do for the all-mighty donut, but also for taking the time to acknowledge and document this caller’s feelings—which I am sure are valid and deserving of memorialization—as well as giving me the deeply felt chuckle I needed to get through my shift. I salute you, sir!
Hope you all enjoyed this installment. I encourage anyone who has questions about the Communications Center and/or its policies to please drop me a line at Shannon.ONeilHuntoon@sdsheriff.org. I will do my best to answer any and all questions!