Another Thing For Dispatch to Do

[Guest guest]

>WHY IS DISPATCH DOING

THIS? Once again, whenever someone can't figure out who should do

record-keeping (Records, maybe?) it falls on dispatch.<

I've harped on this before.. and here I go again.

Emergency service agencies, particularly Police Departments, have

been very slow to understand how 9-1-1 has changed the way

things work.

In the past, at smaller agencies, Dispatch did about everything, phones,

records... they just did it all...

Now with 9-1-1... everyone calls 9-1-1 for everything... and the work

load has increased tremendously, but.. Police Departments haven't

allowed for this... they still think... " Give it to Dispatch " ... not taking

into account how things have changed.

Dispatch is up to their neck in alligators... and here comes another

" Chief " asking... " Have all the units call in the number of seat

belt arrest they make this week " ... " Put it on this form and have

the tabulations for me next Monday " ...

This kind of " non-thinking " causes, stress, burnout, turnover and

many other problems in a dispatch center.

Until Police administrators understand that " Dispatch " is a

highly specialized unit of the Department, and not just a

" catch all " , these problems will continue.

It's one of the reasons that I lean toward the opinion that 9-1-1

should be a separate agency, completely removed from any

police, sheriff, fire, ems department.

Weintraut