Someone once asked me if I thought that answering telephones for a living was a profession. I said I thought it was "a calling."
And so is dispatching. I have found during my law enforcement career that dispatchers are often the unsung heroes of public safety. They miss the excitement of riding in a speeding police car with the lights flashing and the sirens wailing. They do not get to see the joy on the faces of worried parents as they see their sons and daughters begin breathing on their own after receiving CPR.
Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, dispatchers sit in darkened rooms looking at computer monitors and talking to voices belonging to faces they never see. It's like reading a lot of books, but only half of each one.
Dispatchers receive the calls of terrified victims, angry complainants, distressed citizens, and grouchy officers. They are a calming influence of all of them -- the quiet, competent voices that provide pillars of sanity bridging communications from residents to officers and firefighters.
They are expected to gather information from flustered people who can't remember where they live, what their name is, or what they just saw. And then, they must calmly provide all that information to the officers or firefighters without error the first time, every time.
Dispatchers are expected to be able to do five things at once -- and do them all well.
While questioning a frantic caller, they must type the information into a computer, tip off another dispatcher, put another caller on hold, and listen to the officer review information over the radio. To miss the information is to raise the officer's ire; to miss the caller's information may be to endanger that officer's life.
Dispatchers come in all shapes and sizes, all races, genders, and ages. They are blondes, and brunettes, and redheads. They are quiet and outgoing, single and married. No two are alike, yet they are all the same.
Dispatchers play many roles: Therapist, doctor, lawyer, teacher, weatherman, guidance counselor, psychologist, secretary, politician, and reporter. And few people must jump through as many emotional hoops as dispatchers, hearing about a caller's birthday party, the fear of another caller who's house is being robbed, and experiencing the anger of a neighbor blocked in his drive all in a matter of minutes.
It is a unique and talented person who can do this job well.
Linda Leanza, Kathy Smith, Sharon Gumm, June Johnson, Linda Garner, and Josee Acklin -- thank you for the job that you do serving our community every single day.
National Public Safety Dispatcher Week is April 13 to 19. Next time you receive quality service when calling the police department, take a moment to thank the dispatcher.
They deserve it all year round.
Lt. Roy Mosley III can be reached at 330-626-4976, or by e-mail at rmosley@streetsboropolice.com