little dispatch smiles

[Guest guest]

I've spent most of my shift hidden away back in the tape vault, working on the

ever-present back-log of requests.

It seems like, more and more, the allied agencies are requesting the " first

contact " wireless 9-1-1 calls reporting things in their jurisdictions that we

subsequently transfer to them. (Adding to the already significant number of

requests from the DA's offices, defense attorneys, our own department and those

requests from callers pursuant to the Public Information Act.)

Anyway, a murder suspect " surrendered " by calling on his cell phone a few days

ago (about 30 minutes after he shot a co-worker to death); just finished that

request. Another smaller PD wanted a wireless 9-1-1 call reporting an erratic

driver who crashed while the reporting party was behind her - in the city

limits. Those were easy requests; I whipped those out pretty quickly - once I

found them. (It would have helped if the detective had put the correct date for

the murder investigation - I spent quite a bit of fruitless time muttering

darkly about no CAD documentation for the transferred call and then couldn't

find the conversation ANYWHERE on the Master tape. I was stomping around in the

Comm Center, looking at the wall schedule, trying to check who was working

against the date given, because I knew which dispatcher on day watch took that

call. Luckily, somebody on duty right now remembered the news broadcast and

said, " It was one of my nights off, when I called in here to tell everyone to

turn on the news.... what day was that? " The collective memories determined the

correct date for the incident.)

Voila! Lots easier to find something when ya have the right date.

We use DAT cartridges and get about 2 and a half days of stuff on each one. I'd

just put AWAY the DAT with the murder confession call after duplicating the

other PD request, because it " wasn't the right day. " Had I known it was on the

same DAT, I wouldn't have had to load the right DAT twice... (Oh, the stupid

things that really don't matter much but which do generate dark mutterings!)

For the most part, I'm really proud of my dispatchers, who handle all these

calls very well. Now and then I have to cringe at what I discover on the Master

tape during these sorts of searches, but even then it's nothing (usually) worth

busting anybody's chops about....

Heard one of my dispatchers refer to a caller as " Not a happy camper " on the

air. <grin> Heard another one tell a person whose cell phone had dialed 9-1-1

four separate times - for no particular reason - to " turn off your phone, okay?

And ... don't call back! " after that fourth re-contact to check the caller's

status. That lady with the phone had the effrontery to get snippy each and

every time we checked to see if there was REALLY an emergency or not. <rolling

eyes>

I wonder if they think we pick their cell phone numbers out of thin air, when we

call 'em? (Like we have nothing else to do.. Hey, let's harass people with

cell phones, just call 'em randomly for giggles and grins!)

Well, as I strode from the vault to the outside for a smoke break after I

finally finished up the third tape request in the pile, one of our trainees

excitedly called me to her console. It appears she'd taken a call about a

speeding vehicle; the caller provided a NY plate. As per policy, the trainee

ran the plate; although the caller reported a Honda, the plate indicated a

Porsche - registered to Jerry Seinfeld out of NY. She was pretty jazzed about

" hitting " on a celebrity's name. (Hey, she's new.) <grin>

Our Captain returned from a short trip and stopped in to check the in-basket in

his office; he always walks through Dispatch to say hello to everyone.

Unfortunately, he used that " Q " word when asking how the shift was going. I

told him, " With all due respect, sir, you REALLY need to learn that rule. " He's

only been here a little over a month; we told him about it on his first day, but

..... he'll learn. (At our expense, I guess - if you are superstitious about

those sorts of things. It's kind of fun to admit to that particular fanciful

belief, as silly as it may be.)

One night we had a particularly evil officer walk through here; he stopped and

said, " It's quiet! Too quiet! Quiet, quiet quiet quiet quiet and QUIET! "

He learned. <grin> Trust me, when he walks through now, he puts his hands up as

if to ward off any thrown objects.

Unfortunately, it can be " mellow " on THEIR beats while it's bedlam in HERE. He

did jinx us that particular night - doesn't matter where the fit hits the shan

in four counties; we'll get the calls.

Oh my. Just had a couple of allied agency dispatchers call over to ask for

" that speeding vehicle license plate you just broadcast. " Amazing how

information travels by scanner from Comm Center to Comm Center, huh?

How many people on the list think that plate will be run " just for confirmation "

this evening - or during the next few days? (We don't have to run it again; we

printed it for posterity.)

Happy to be here, proud to serve.