lack of documentation

[Guest guest]

This is a web form response sent in by

rescue7@... on Wednesday, April 19, 2000 at 07:28:38

Message: I have been dispatching for nearly five years and have been to several

training courses that teach documentation. I recently moved to a new city and

started working for a new agency. Unlike what I am used to, many of the

dispatcher here do not document a lot of things. They run driver's license

checks, or tags and give the info. back to the officer, but don't put anything

in the computer. If that dispatcher leaves, another dispatcher would have no

idea what the officer requested if he requests it again. They also do not log a

lot of other info. in the computer like descpriptions of subjects or vehicels,

etc. I would like to find any info. that would support me in trying to get them

to document information. Court cases of negligence, liability, etc. Any thing

that would prove things need to be documented. Any help, information, or advise

would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Guest guest]

Sara wrote:

<snip>

I even learned to log tags that return not in file (ONE TIME I

thought no big deal it was not in file, no need to log it) and the Sgt. came

back wanting the tag because there was a burglary in the area at the same

time he ran the tag. Would of been a simple task of checking the log had I

logged it, but you get the idea.... Lesson learned. Good documentation

keeps me from being woke up in the middle of the day to find out what

happened too, enough for me to document like crazy.

<snip>

This is interesting to me, I have officers that run plates all the time

without making traffic stops, etc. I don't log these reg's/ol's basically

because there is nowhere to log them. I was wondering where everyone logs

these things, on paper? or in the CAD?

The CAD at my department only logs calls. And creating a new screen for just

a reg or ol check would be greatly time consuming and would make our calls

for service for the entire year very disproportionate to the actual calls

taken. <wondering if that last part makes sense, I've been up all night>

Anyway, logging these on a paper log would be close to impossible, especially

on those really, really busy 4-midnight shifts. We do have a PC tape recorder

now (just recently got this- I don't think I had ever seen a reel-to-reel

tape recorder before I worked at this department. My being only 22 and all

<grin>), it is suppposed to keep tapes for a long time now. Compared to the

30 day rotation of reel-to-reel tapes we kept. I know it would be a pain in

the *ss to look up a reg on the tape that an officer ran (not too bad on ours

since you can recall by date and specific time), but I don't think I could

log all reg/ol checks that don't pertain to a certain call. I do log reg's

and ol's on what we call a " page " screen that is a secondary screen to our

call screen. Some of our dispatchers don't do this, which makes it really

annoying when you go to enter paperwork related to that call. So just

interested in how the rest of you guys log the reg's and ol's. Thanks for the

info.

Cheri' Rives

Englewood Communications Center

Englewood, OH