Re: 911:: Dispatch Environment

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 12/16/2003 6:31:47 PM Eastern Standard Time,

clabranche320@... writes:

but if the people were

smart enough behind the remote

OK ....My very first post to this group. The key is having people that ARE

smart enough behind the remote. You stated that you once had TV but it was taken

away. It was obviously misused by those not to smart people. We have had TV

in our Center for several years and we also have a few movie channels.

To get a TV back once you loose it is twice as hard as getting it there the

first time. You need to show your supervisors that having one can save you time

and possibly save someone's life.

Let's take Weather for our first look at safety. A major storm is coming and

we all get those types over the printer that tells use how bad the rain or

wind will be, however looking at live radar gives you a more timely perspective

as to when and where it's going to hit the fan.

Now how about the major incident like a school shooting or a major HAZMAT

incident, not sure about all areas but here the news get there pretty fast and

we

have live shots to put with all that radio traffic that we are dealing with,

it helps!

During 911 we had tons of calls into the Center and without TV we would have

had no clue as to what was going on.

My suggestion to you is to sell it as a Weather Monitor or a News Monitor

long before you try and sell them on movies on midnight's! Even if you lock

other

channels out News and Weather is OK for a start.

When installing a TV in a center one great option is to have separate

speakers at each station with volume switches, and MAKE SURE the TV mutes when

the

console mic is keyed.

My 2.5 cents worth

DAI

FPD Dispatch

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 12/16/2003 4:31:29 PM Mountain Standard Time,

clabranche320@... writes:

> ...What do you do to get a television in

> dispatch?

Well, it took a school shooting that made national news for us to get ours.

I wouldn't recommend that... but rather use it as a reason to have it. The

comm center that worked the shooting was getting more information from what the

media was showing then they were from the responders (who were very busy in

their own right).

We have basic cable in our center and there's lots of times during severe

weather that the tv is on to either local channels or the weather channel.

Issues of national importance can be viewed. Nothing like hearing from a

citizen

that the shuttle has blown up or the country has been attacked.

You do have to have some rules - what you can watch, when you can watch, get

one with a vcr so you can watch training tapes.

I'm pro TV even though I'm on a shift now (mon-thur day shift) where it's

hardly ever turned on, but on the night shift, it makes for a not so long shift.

I'm working day shift solo on Christmas so will bring in my traditional

videos. 2 classic Wayne movies that I think of as Christmas movies -

Donavan's Reef and The 3 Godfathers (an old western for you thinking it might be

something violent!).

Kathy

[Guest guest]

What do you do to get a television in dispatch?

We just installed seven 32 " TVs in our new center. They are connected to cable

and set to news channels, the weather channel, security cameras, and in-house

training channels. The understanding is no Springer or inappropriate

programming. Closed captioning is enabled. The volume is muted on all.

Obviously, this was a big hit during the recent events in Iraq. We considered

adding them to our new facility after seeing their worth during a local hazmat

incident.

For now, I'm hoping that the ability to keep the staff " in touch " will more than

offest any mischief they can get in, but I don't take their ability to find new

and better issues lightly, either!!!

[Guest guest]

>it could be something to keep one

awake when working a long night shift..making it NOT a liability.

Many agencies that allow TV in Dispatch do so with some

regulations... Allowing only news or weather during weekdays,

or second shifts. With weekends and midnights allowed

much more flexibility.

Personal opinion - I don't care much for it.

Weintraut

[Guest guest]

It isnt fun to realize ya need something when something bad

happens. I highly agree with you, and it would be a good idea--from

what you and others have said--to just have the news and weather

channels allowed on the television. I don't really mind, and I like

the fact that I can see what has happened, or even what IS

happening. The information is needed and it is kind of fun to be

able to have that as a followup.

> In a message dated 12/16/2003 4:31:29 PM Mountain Standard Time,

> clabranche320@y... writes:

>

>

> > ...What do you do to get a television in

> > dispatch?

>

> Well, it took a school shooting that made national news for us to

get ours.

> I wouldn't recommend that... but rather use it as a reason to have

it. The

> comm center that worked the shooting was getting more information

from what the

> media was showing then they were from the responders (who were

very busy in

> their own right).

>

> We have basic cable in our center and there's lots of times during

severe

> weather that the tv is on to either local channels or the weather

channel.

> Issues of national importance can be viewed. Nothing like hearing

from a citizen

> that the shuttle has blown up or the country has been attacked.

>

> You do have to have some rules - what you can watch, when you can

watch, get

> one with a vcr so you can watch training tapes.

>

> I'm pro TV even though I'm on a shift now (mon-thur day shift)

where it's

> hardly ever turned on, but on the night shift, it makes for a not

so long shift.

>

> I'm working day shift solo on Christmas so will bring in my

traditional

> videos. 2 classic Wayne movies that I think of as Christmas

movies -

> Donavan's Reef and The 3 Godfathers (an old western for you

thinking it might be

> something violent!).

>

> Kathy

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

> Since we are on the topic...What do you do to get a television in

> dispatch?

I don't know what you have to do, but we two tvs in our center. During the

day, both are tuned to news channels, at least one national and one local

when they have news on. During elevated emergency time, both have to be on

the news at all times. During the evening hours, we can watch anything.

Usually, one is on a movie and one on sports. COPS is a big time favorite,

too. Our leadership expects us to know breaking news first. We monitor

traffic, we even watch our fire/ems and deputies on scene when the

helicopters are up. Hope that helps.

Walt

[Guest guest]

I agree that while " need' may be a strong word, there have been numerous

times in our center when breaking news, both local and national, would have been

helpful to have.

As a former center director and now a supervisor, I feel rather strongly that

dispatchers should have some means of passing the downtime away. Whether

that be by watching tv or by reading a book or magazine, I feel that it enhances

alertness by keeping the brain active. During busy times I believe the tv

should be on a channel that offers short snippets of info, like CNN or the

Weather Channel, so the dispatcher can have some reasonable hope of getting the

whole story instead of a 2 hour drama where they are constantly missing

important

parts of the storyline. For the midnighters I see no reason they should not

be allowed to watch a movie, pausing it as it becomes necessary to complete

their work tasks. I subscribe to the somewhat optimistic belief that given the

respect from management, MOST people will rise to the occasion and police

themselves adequately.

[Guest guest]

Here I go again, being the grouchy old devils advocate.

>but on the night shift, it makes for a not so long shift.

Really... that's the only true reason I can see for having a

TV in Dispatch. And it's not a bad reason.

Weather, national events etc... yes, it's nice, but most

of the information you get from other sources, if you need

it at all.

Do the benefits outweigh the downsides?

Again... very nice to have but NEEDED... I don't think so.

Weintraut

[Guest guest]

Hi,

We have TWO tv's in our center. One on each side.

And, we can watch what we want basically, however, you would be surprised

how much it stays on news and weather anyway!!

I have also found that the old 30 minute programs, like 3's company, golden

girls, ect. are watched a lot because you can get most of the program. If you

try to get into a movie you usually loose.

We also like to watch crime scene, ect. that kind of stuff, you " could " call

that training?????

HEY! Merry Christmas to all of yall from lil ole me in

S. Georgia

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 12/17/2003 12:12:54 PM Central Standard Time,

mnewcomb@... writes:

> , you have now stated both TV and Internet are unnecessary in the

> communications center, as all of the information that comes from both

> could gathered " from other sources " . What else would you suggest -- AM

> radio? Just curious; our center did not realize what happening on 9/11

> until the calls started flooding in.

>

ya think about it, and they are " " really not necessary. We just recently

got a tv in dispatch, and we don't have the internet.. We do just fine.

Please somebody explain to me, since the one guy on here didn't.. I can't

remember

who it was, but he said " the internet provided him information to help save a

life, thats why its essential to have it in your communications center " or

something to that fact. Now Id like to hear that story.. cause i don't buy it..

About 9-11, and not knowing it happened, until you were flooded with calls.

where do you live mike?

jamie in iowa

DCSO

keep em safe

these are my opinions, and my opinions only

for liability purposes, my opinions are not to be reprinted before asking moi

if you can do so!!

[Guest guest]

>this list has provided numbers 2 times for us in California where we had no

idea how to get a police agency.<

Nearly every, if not all, police agencies in the country are assigned

an ORI in the NCIC files. You can run that through the ORION

files and obtain address, phone and other information.

>One all we had was the phone number and had no idea where it was. By the prefix

a dispatcher was able to give us the number to call, so some sort of access like

this IS essential and a great TOOL. <

Automated 411 may have trouble giving you this information,

however you can talk to a " special operator " for any of the

phone companies and they can access this information for

you.

Again.. just playing devils advocate here.. I'm not saying

that the Internet isn't a great tool.. just saying that

most, of the information is available without it.

Weintraut

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 12/18/2003 5:44:10 AM Central Standard Time,

rweintraut@... writes:

> Again.. just playing devils advocate here.. I'm not saying

> that the Internet isn't a great tool.. just saying that

> most, of the information is available without it.

>

> Weintraut

>

>

keep it up.. they will eventually understand what you are saying.. I think

you are totally right.. We do just fine without them.

jamie in iowa

DCSO

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 12/18/2003 3:04:34 PM Central Standard Time,

mnewcomb@... writes:

> ,

>

> I did not send the original message, but I did use the Internet to help

> a suicidal subject several months ago. Someone called my department

> from across the country to report a girl from my state was on an

> Internet message board stating intentions to kill herself. He found our

> department's website and called us up. By signing onto the website and

> determining who was in charge of the messageboard, we were able to get

> her personal information and dispatched the appropriate resources before

> any harm was done. If we had no internet access, it would have been

> near impossible to determine who/where the person in jeopardy was,

> mostly because the incident itself originated online.

>

> -Mike

>

thats wonderful mike, good job

jamie in iowa

[Guest guest]

>>Again... very nice to have but NEEDED... I don't think so.

Weintraut<<

I've followed your exploits for many years and have been awed by your vast

knowledge of dispatch......however, meaning no disrespect, I have to ask....Do

you wear underwear??

Bob <rolling on the floor laughing..:-)>

[Guest guest]

Our agency is south of Denver, Colorado -- the County Sheriff

Office. We dispatch 8 fire/ems agencies and the sheriff deputies. We are

the default 911 center for the State. We have two tvs in dispatch and have

internet access with the rules being the traditional off-limit sites, chat

room, and music. News and reference sites are ok.

The Denver-area hospitals use an internet-based status system. Our rescues

request divert status before they go enroute to hospitals. The system is

also used to alert all emergency agencies of area-wide disasters

and/critical incidents, etc.

We frequently use information and mapping resources to locate people,

businesses and anything else our creative deputies and fire/ems personnel

can request as they carry out their duties.

The State Patrol and highway construction agencies post information relating

to road closures on the internet. We monitor that and advise our ems

agencies and deputies accordingly as wells as respond to calls from the

public concerning that information.

The county uses the internet to enable residents to file counter reports,

lost property reports, housewatch requests. Quite a bit of other

information is now on line inlcuding our main fire and law dispatch

channels, excerpts from the Colorado statutes, etc. We need to have

internet access when we try and help residents who call for assistance.

Futhermore, we have numerous applications that are accessed on our intranet.

We have frequent weather situations involving flash flooding in last year's

burn areas in the forest area; we have tornados in the eastern flatter parts

of the county; we have heavy thunderstorms and lightening storms in the

area, not to mention heavy snow storms. We are expected to monitor weather

situations and advise our emergency-preparedness personnel when appropriate.

We are expected by our commanad staff to be up to date on all of the above

as well as national and international breaking news and probably several

things I forgot to mention.

We would be clearly less prepared if we were unable to provide information

to the public, ems responders, deputies, and our command staff as noted

above. In this day and age, in a full service communication agency such as

ours, we could not fulfill our mission without internet and tv. Not needed?

I think for us the answer is mandatory.

> I am with . I don't see the need for Internet or TV in the comm.

> center. Yes it would be nice, but not needed. We are a large department

> with about 1.2 million dispatched police calls, and 1.8million incoming

> calls to our center each year. We handle each and every one of those

calls

> fine without a TV or Internet. And I don't think we are less prepared.

[Guest guest]

I apologize. I knew I would forget a couple of internet applications.

The Colorado crime information computer system (CCIC) is now internet based.

In addition to the basicx, this has enabled each and every dispatcher to

have terminal access at his/her position and not rely on one operator for

entry of stolen vehicles, warrant locates, repos, impounds, you name it.

And, we now have terminal ids throughout the agency for use by detentions,

investigations, civil, report, and so on. This has dramatically DECREASED

the work load on basic dispatch which IMPROVES their productivity.

Also, our emergency paging system is internet-based. This is used for

command staff paging, daily RAWS weather data to all fire personnel, and so

on.

Each and every day, creative and imaginative people develop new and

efficient ways of executing our mission using the internet and other new

technologies. Our leadership is extremely forward thinking in the use of

technology and how we reach out to and serve our community. Our

Communication Center is very proud of the leadership we enjoy in this area.

It helped us win the APCO Colorado Communication Center of the year last

year largely in part due to our work during the Hayman fire where we used it

all; (those who don't agree with me would be happy to know we even used

foot messengers; the carrier pigeons were grounded due to the smoke).

Anyway, I personally believe as a profession we should be embracing

technolology and using it in every way possible to advance our own

professional standing and raise the level of services we provide.

End of soap box time. Back to lurking.

Walt

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 12/19/2003 6:43:48 PM Central Standard Time,

pdunchus@... writes:

> My guess...the reason for the question is to illustrate a

> point...

> Underwear is NICE, but it isn't NECESSARY!

>

> (back to lurking mode)

> Patty

>

lol lmao... bingo

jamie in iowa

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 12/19/2003 5:37:03 PM Mountain Standard Time,

rweintraut@... writes:

> >Do you wear underwear??

>

> Occasionally.

>

>

T.M.I.!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest guest]

>Do you wear underwear??

Occasionally.

Weintraut

[Guest guest]

Jeff,

I am not the guilty party but I must have a warp since of humor because I

read through the messages and kept right on plugging but I took a double

take on the boxer questions and thought now what does that have to do with

TV or internet. your right about Rich, I don't know him personally but I

read his posting which has a lot of good common sense and I respect his

opinion, But he is a person with his rights to his thoughts, as we all

agree to respect.

Happy Holidays and Best wishes to all.

Tom east central Illinois

[Guest guest]

>>Why is this Question being asked?<<

Making a list of necessities for my next comm center.......

[Guest guest]

Boxers or briefs?

Sorry, I couldn't resist!

[Guest guest]

TVs? Internet? Computers? Well, when I was a lad we didn't have any such things

and we worked in the basement of the jail and when the prisoners stopped up the

johns it ran down and hit the equipment and made pretty sparks and we liked it!

And we had a teletype machine and had to send hard copy messages to other states

to get DMV info and it sometimes took days to get an answer, especially since

DMVs were usually closed on weekends, and we liked it. Seriously, as we continue

this thread, take a second to consider how far we've come in the past decades,

how far we yet have to go, and also that many jursidictions still don't have

appropriate basic resources, let alone cable TV or the Web.

[Guest guest]

>take a second to consider how far we've come in the past decades,

how far we yet have to go<

You're absolutely correct about that.

It's been amazing.

We've made this huge push toward 9-1-1 over the years, and I

don't believe the powers that be realized how much it would

change the dispatch function.

I'm sure that technology will continue to improve, but the real

challenge is personnel. Offering the benefits, training, job

satisfaction and many other things that will allow us to hire,

train, and retain our people.

We've made some progress.... we've a long way to go...

(One last little barb... with a huge grin).

TV and Internet may be fun... but what you really better be thinking

about is your training, a good pension plan, and retirement insurance.

Weintraut

[Guest guest]

AMEN to the good retirement and hope that we have

insurance to fall back on

Tom