Introduction to 911

To start off, I'd like to say a little about my background and experience in 911 and my motivations for starting this blog.

I started working at my local Police Dept. as a 911 dispatcher in Oct of 2000. The training process is quite long (about 6 months), ((which is maybe not enough)) and includes different phases of classroom and on the job instruction with a trainer. To elaborate, you work at this place for six months with someone holding your hand at all times, you don't make any decisions on your own pretty much the entire time until your training is done.

This training is only the beginning though. I can't even begin to describe the unbelievable range of situations and events that are handled and eventually codified and responded to by 911 dispatchers.

Just to give you an idea, we field calls ranging from amazingly stupid and boring to hair-raising sitting on the edge of your seat type calls. And everything in between. We handle mundane "this sign has been knocked down" or "what's the law on watering your lawn" to the "I was just robbed at gunpoint", and "I just found my friends dead in their apartment" ( yes, I was actually the one to take the 911 call on the recent double homocide). One thing I always tell people (and new dispatchers) is you never know what's gonna be on the other end of that incoming 911 call.......It could be anything......literally.......

To become proficient and or even to later excel at this job, takes years of experience and learning. Suffice it to say, you come out of training and hope to hell you don't get yourself fired before you can figure out what you've got yourself into. Of course there are people and resources there to help you through it, but there is quite a learning curve to go through. It's awhile before you even begin to start feeling comfortable with your ability to pick up that phone and say "911, what is your emergency?".

I very distinctly remember the first night that I felt I was actually doing "good". I had been there about a year......Really. A full year before I felt I was beginning to perform well. It was short-lived though because a few days later I screwed up and was smacked down for it. But anyways, even with that, I began to not only do well, but started to exceed the performance of others later on.

After two years on the job, I was promoted to 911 Communications Supervisor. I was very proud of this because this was an extremely quick promotion. Two years is hardly enough time to become proficient, much less be put in a position to direct the efforts of people with many more years of experience. I spent the next 4 years there as a supervisor and learned alot. I mean alot. I learned more as a supervisor than I would have learned spending the next 10 years as a dispatcher.

O.K., now I get an offer to be a General Manager at a steakhouse with a liitle bit more pay, and with lots more responsibility and eventually took the offer. I left the police dept. and went to that. After 2 years at the steakhouse, I realized that my ideals and philosophies were way too different than those of my superiors and made the decision to resign. It was a hard blow to my ego and definately to my wallet, but I felt it was the right thing to do. (Still feel that way by the way)

Now I'm back. Have to start at the bottom again, but that's o.k. Either way, I'm doing something I love and have no regrets. Anyways, I've been at it several months again now and am back in the swing of things. Lots of new toys to play with since I left but I think I've made it past the learning curve now and am doing well. So, now I'll get into the whole point.

Ever since I started, family, friends, and people I run into always have questions about what I do and the kinds of calls I take. I don't know how many times people have asked me, "Whats your favorite call", or " What's the worst call you've taken", or "Whats the funniest call?"......and on, and on., etc., etc.,. Although I certainly don't mind the questions, I've found it extremly hard to pick one or two calls to share out of a plethra of crazy, crazy, crap!! I mean to say, I've taken so, so many crazy calls, I've forgotten more hilarious, nerve-wracking, hideous, scary, heart-wrenching calls than I can possibly remember. The only way I can keep up, and the only way I can possibly answer all those questions is to start posting them while i still remeber them.

So now, just for you, I'm going to start a daily rant about the calls I take day to day. This was pretty long, but I had to get it off my chest. If you are still with me after all that, then kudos to you. Thanks for your attention. Please read my next post regarding my disclaimers. Of course with posting this info, I'm gonna have to hold back many things. Private info is a given, but I'm also going to limit anything I say regarding calls with ongoing ivestigations or high profile crimes that would have signifcant media interest. I'll go into that in my disclaimers post.

Anyways, hope ya'll find this stuff intersting.