Dispatchers' other duties as required

[Guest guest]

We caught an occupied stolen vehicle tonight, which isn't that terribly

uncommon. It was, however, on one of those traffic stops they don't have

to call in unless they request something. In this instance, the " something "

was DL status on the driver. About a minute later, the officer ran the

plate, which returned and arrived in queue as the dispatcher was reading

back the DL.... it " dinged " with the wanted alert our CAD provides for

such " hits " and she stopped reading the DL with a quick " stand by! " before

releasing the transmitter. We all heard the ding, her nearly simultaneous

" OH SHIT " off-mike, and everything went smoothly from then on. A bit

hectic, perhaps, and nicely raised tension for the few minutes before

responding units arrived and all four occupants were in custody.

Three of the occupants were young girls. Officers at the scene requested a

female officer; oddly enough, we hadn't any on duty this night. No allied

agencies nearby had female officers, either. All four subjects were patted

down and brought back to the Area Office (co-located with the Comm Center

but an entirely different building).

Our newest sergeant was promoted 2/1/01, and he came from an Area not

co-located with a Comm Center. He came back to ask a favor: Could we let

one of the gals in custody use our bathroom? Sure, no problem. " Thanks -

we'll need one of your dispatchers to go in with her to make sure she

doesn't dump any contraband. "

Noooooo, sorry; that's not gonna happen, sergeant. " But we haven't any

female officers to do it. "

" I'm sorry, sergeant, but our dispatchers aren't going to do matron duties. "

" Oh, no urine test, just make sure she doesn't try to dump anything... "

The answer was still no. I explained that the issue had been addressed a

few years ago, and if a female officer was needed, we'd be glad to call

local PDs to see if they had female officers available, or the in custody

could be transported to a hospital ER or taken to the jail for booking,

where there WOULD be a female available for such duties. He nodded and left.

About 20 minutes later, another one of the gals experienced the same need,

and this time an officer came in and simply asked ME to handle this task

for him. I said I'd be glad to stand outside the door, but I wasn't going

in with her.... " But we don't have a female officer on duty and someone

does have to go in with her! " Noop. Oh, and by the way, when the 3rd gal

needs to pee, the answer will still be negative, sorry. He, too, left with

a " thinking " expression on his face.

It turns out they just told the gals to " hold it " - because they weren't

going to be booked, anyway, and after they were " no longer in custody "

(waiting for Mom & Dad to come get them), the officers simply let them use

the restroom unaccompanied. (They'll be charged with lesser crimes, not

necessary to book them tonight.)

I had a follow-up discussion with the sergeant, which turned out to be

unnecessary; he'd thought the situation through himself. I told him that

an officer had also asked, and he said he'd discuss it with " the troops " on

his shift. Obviously, since the last time we'd been asked to perform this

task was a few years ago, there'd been some turnover amongst the officers.

(That previous instance was something I addressed at a staff meeting

subsequent to discovering that one of the dispatchers HAD been pressed into

such duties.)

It was right at our shift change and there were six dispatchers - plus me -

at the time of the first request. Five very relieved female dispatchers

thanked me for intervening.

I know some of y'all probably do have to handle these types of incidents at

your Comm Centers. Had a Comm Sup not been present tonight, I'm sure one of

the dispatchers would have complied with the sergeant's (and the officers')

request - and we'd have had to bring it up to the Commander, tomorrow

(after one of us found out about it).

If anybody wonders why it's inappropriate for our dispatchers, I'll be glad

to 'splain it in a follow-up post or personal, off-list message.

Happy to be here, proud to serve.

Olmstead

Communications Supervisor

~on the Central California coastline~

" Not presumed to be an official statement of my employing agency. "

Home E-mail: mailto:gryeyes@...

http://www.gryeyes.com/

[Guest guest]

We have a custodial staff that comes in and does this non-dispatcher type stuff

at night. I'm responsible for cleaning up my " area " before I leave for the day.

But you say that since 3rd shift is not busy they get to do it?? Well I'll

wager a paycheck that the 3rd shift coppers are not any more busy then 3rd shift

dispatchers..... Are they cleaning their PD at night?? LOL No!

Unbelievable................. :-(

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<snip>>>>>>>>>>>>>

How many places have included janitorial duties with that of dispatcher?

Rich Dean, NJ USA

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<snip>>>>>>>>>>>>>

>We still do to a lesser degree. It is still 3rd shift's responsibility to

>keep the communications room clean; to include cleaning windows, dusting,

>mopping and waxing the floors. The only reason this is placed on 3rd shift

>is because of the lack of calls and the atmosphere on 3rd shift. However,

>the rest of the sheriff's dept. and jail are cleaned by a full time

>custodial employee.

Cain

Dispatcher, Training Officer

Randolph County Communications

155 E South Street

Winchester, IN 47394

mcain_911@...