I love it when an officer does this.

We use 10 codes at our center. Much quicker than “plain talk” in some circumstances. Last night I had a downright funny conversation on my police radio with an officer. Too long to tweet, so I’m blogging this.

First off: some 10 codes you need to know before reading….
10-4 acknowledging the transmission. basically saying “ok” or “yes”
10-21 have someone to call you
10-88 code for phone number. as in “what’s your phone number?”

Now on to the conversation….

Officer: Dispatch, can you have juvenile intake give me a 10-21?
Me: 10-4. What’s your 10-88?

(insert sounds of crickets here)

Officer: I don’t know about a 10-88 but my phone number is ………
Me: 10-4

So I looked at my fellow dispatchers and said “did he just say what I think he said?”
We all got a good laugh out of that one!

Dispatcher – 1
Officer – 0

So what’s it like to be a dispatcher?

I get asked this question a lot.

The answer is never simple and usually depends on who is asking. In a nutshell, you have to be prepared for anything.

In my center we both calltake (answer the phones) AND dispatch (work the radio), which sometimes necessitates you doing both simultaneously. On a busy day or during a storm that can be especially trying. Where I work, no matter who you are talking to on the phone, the radio is your priority. That means even if you’re on the phone with someone about to kill themselves and your radio raises you, you have to answer them. There is no hold button in a case like this – you listen to your phone with one ear and the radio with the other. Difficult? Very very difficult at times.

When that phone rings you have to be prepared to do what it takes. Any given day, I’ve gone from someone needing the number to animal control immediately into a suicide attempt and back to a loud music complaint. You have to listen and work your own radio and phone AND know what’s going on with other dispatchers in the room too. You can’t always be nice either. For example: a woman calls and is angry and yelling at both you and her “baby daddy” in the background because they are having a fight and she wants the police to respond. You can’t hear her because she’s yelling and/or she’s giving you, the dispatcher, a hard time. That’s the point when you have to take control of the call, even if it means getting forceful with them. Think of yourself as mom to a very out of control child and how you would handle it. That’s what we do. And FYI, in most states, threatening or harassing a 911 dispatcher is a quick trip to jail.

Its not for the faint of heart and its not easy. Right now we have a rookie (someone who’s been there less than a year) who most likely isn’t going to make the cut. Her main problem is that she’s afraid of the phone. You just can’t be afraid of it and be a dispatcher. Think of the world as your circus and yourself as the Ringmaster. The Ringmaster is running the show. Right now our rookie is at concessions selling popcorn. I hate it because I really like her but its just not for everyone, and there’s no shame in that.

Long hours, days off few and far between, stressful conditions, and no respect from the public at large thanks to a liberal media who loves to place the blame on anyone but the one at fault. These days I see more of my co-workers than I do my kids or my husband. I’m overweight thanks to fast food take out. I haven’t been to Church in who knows how long thanks to weekend shifts. You aren’t guaranteed holidays off – even Christmas Day. Overworked and underpaid.

So why do we do it?
Its that one call where you literally save a life by instructing CPR over the phone. Or the man or woman you talk out of suicide until the police can get there. Or the person in a domestic situation who has no one else to turn to who thanks you for helping them. Its the camaraderie of people who “get” what you’re doing and know why you do it. Who can read your mind before you even say anything just because you look at them a certain way. Who know what you’re talking about when you resume a conversation that left off 4 hours or 4 days ago. For me personally its a way giving back and service to God.

Mo Magnet

Last night my Mo Magnet (moron magnet) was in high gear. It seemed like every call I took was either ridiculous, “dramatic” or left me shaking my head. Here are 3 of the night’s most entertaining:

#1
Caller: I was arrested yesterday and the deputy hurt my hand. I want to file a report.
Me: You will need to contact the jail for that, I can give you the number.
Caller: Just patch me through.
Me: I can’t do that but I can give you the number.
Caller: You can’t just push a button?
Me: No sir but I can give you the number.
Caller: So you’re not going to put me through?
Me: No sir, but again, I’d be glad to give you the number.
Caller: Why won’t you patch me through?
Me: Sir, it just doesn’t work that way. May I give you the number to call?
Caller: Let me get a pen. Ok what is it?
Me: (gives him the number to call)
Caller: And what’s your name?
Me: Operator 26.
Caller: I need your name.
Me: Operator 26.
Caller: I need your name.
Me: Operator 26.
Caller: So you’re not giving me your name?
Me: Sir, I’m operator 26 if you need to file a complaint against me as well.
Caller: (hangs up)

#2
Caller: I’m over here in Butler Homes and my boys have run off playing and I can’t find them.
Me: Where are you ma’am and I’ll send you an officer?
Caller: I don’t know where I am. Just send him to Butler Homes.
Me: Ma’am, its a big area. Is there a landmark close to you? Anything that would tell me where you are at?
Caller: I’m in front of 123 Elm Street. Does that help you?
Me: (bangs head on console)

#3
We had earlier received a call of an intoxicated man on a bench in front of a chain store…..Officers were already en route.
Caller: There’s this guy outside of the store, and he’s on the bench and looks sick or something.
Me: Which store sir?
Caller: The so-and-so store. He’s right out front.
Me: (realizing this is the same call) Sir, is he on the grocery side of the store?
Caller: No, he’s on the food side.

God as my witness, I do not make this stuff up.

Two Words

Job Security.

The more I work at this job, the more that becomes my mantra. Nothing surprises me anymore.

Honestly – I do NOT make this up!

Last night we had a domestic dispute and a female was beaten up pretty badly by her boyfriend and taken to the hospital. He had fled the scene before officers arrived. Several hours later, said boyfriend CALLED 911 and asked to meet with the officer who handled his girlfriends case because “he had heard there was a warrant out for him”.

(insert sound of crickets right here!!!)

So, working the radio as I was, I contacted the officer by phone and had him call me. I told him what the perp had said and again….the sound of silence. My officer then said “OK. I’ll go over there and arrest…I mean talk to him!” and laughed. Which he promptly did.

No one ever accused criminals of being rocket scientists.

Nashville!

This past weekend I was in Nashville with two of my closest friends and had an amazing time!  I had actually never met either of them in person before – how cool is that?!  We have been internet friends for about 5 years and recently had the chance to meet up in Nashville, which turned out to be centrally located for us.

One of my friends – Judy – has an incredibly talented son named Nathan Lee who is a rising star in Nashville.  Not country exactly nor exactly rock.  His music is eclectic and wicked and you just want to keep listening.  We had the chance to meet him and God I felt like a groupie. LOL  But he is beyond nice and so down to earth and I am definitely a fan for life.  You can check out his music and his mission at www.nathanleemusic.com

Here’s a sample of  his music:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zmfEfKMsWE

He was also recently chosen to be on a PBS special called Legends & Lyrics as a “rising star”:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArqldIhx8oQ

What I love about his MISSION is that he is a Christian who gets out there in the world and witnesses in his own way to the lost.  From his website he says “Our audience was pastors and strippers,” said Lee of his time at the Rutledge. “I sing to broken people because I am one. I want to write songs that bridge the gap between our differences and bring some essence of healing to what I do.”  He regularly gives concerts at a local venue that they have titled “Give a Damn Sundays” where all proceeds go to very worthwhile charities.

Check him out and catch a show if you’re in town!

Disgust and Scanner Heads

There’s a special place in Hell for people who molest children.

Last night I took a call from a mom who was one of the saddest people I have ever talked to.  She had left her 3 year old daughter with her cousin while she went to an appointment.  When she picked up her daughter and went home where her daughter proceeded to tell her a story that strikes fear in all mothers.  She had been molested by the cousin’s boyfriend.  Seems the boyfriend had fondled the little girl and then washed her up in the shower in an effort to rid her of any DNA or other evidence.  The little girl didn’t know any better and simply told her mother what happened, which is where I came in on the ordeal.

These types of calls are the ones you DON’T put out on the radio.  You see, there’s this demographic of the population we call “scanner heads”.  Those are the people who have nothing better to do than sit by a police band scanner and listen in on the details of a call between police and dispatchers.  I am  of that 98% of dispatchers who believe this equipment should be illegal, but alas, that’s another story for another time.  Scanner heads are not only annoying, they can be dangerous.  You see, a dedicated scanner head has listened to the traffic so much,they have memorized police codes and know what we are saying.  I cannot tell you how many times we have had family members call 911 because someone other than law enforcement has notified them of a death or accident because someone heard it on the radio and knew the address of the complaint.

So….this call did not go out on the radio.  I notified a city officer by 10-21 (via telephone) who was even more enraged than I was when he heard the details.  (Gotta love our men in blue)   As of this morning, I don’t know the outcome of the call but I can only hope the bastard who did this will be arrested and thrown under the jail to rot.  I cannot imagine what the mother is going through right now and I hope I never do.

Ed Freeman

Michael Jackson dies and it’s 24/7 news coverage. A real American hero dies and not a mention of it in the news.

You’re a 19-year-old kid. You’re critically wounded and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley , 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam . Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in.

You’re lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you’re not getting out. Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away and you’ll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.

Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter and you look up to see an unarmed Huey, but it doesn’t seem real because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.

Ed Freeman is coming for you. He’s not Medi-Vac, so it’s not his job, but he’s flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come.

He’s coming anyway.

And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire as they load 2 or 3 of you on board.

Then he flies you up and out, through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses.

And he kept coming back, 13 more times, and took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.

Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman died on Wednesday, June 25th, 2009, at the age of 80, in Boise , ID.   May God rest his soul.

Medal of Honor Winner
Ed Freeman!
Since the media didn’t give him the coverage he deserves, send this to every red-blooded American you know.

THANKS AGAIN, ED, FOR WHAT YOU DID FOR OUR COUNTRY.
RIP

Independence Day

Happy 233rd Birthday America!

Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.  Do you know our story?

A truly amazing read from David McCullough called 1776 details just how hard a struggle we had as a fledgling country gaining our independence from Great Britain.   George Washington will forever be my hero.

Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?  Thomas Jefferson

Who signed it?  56 leaders from every colony, including 2 future Presidents

We have a rich history of moral, Godly men and women who gave up so much to ensure this country became a place where “all men are created equal”, where they are given the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.

You can read the full document here: http://www.constitution.org/usdeclar.htm

Not Quite A Husband

I love to read, everyone who knows me knows that.  I’m a picky reader and I’m not given to handing out praise unless its due.  I have less than 50 books on my “Desert Island Keeper” shelf, just for that reason.  To make to the shelf of honor, you really have to impress me or make me cry.

Not Quite A Husband by Sherry Thomas did both.

Not only did I cry, I cried again AFTER I finished reading it because it touched me so much.   I honestly cannot say when a book has affected me so profoundly before.  It wasn’t just the subject matter or the delicious (pun intended!) writing, or even the way it made me examine my own marriage…it was simply everything a good romance should be.  In a word – breathtaking.

You can read my review (and others who also enjoyed it) on my Goodreads page (see link on the My Reads page) or you can go to Paperbackswap.com or any bookseller and see for yourself.

If you’re a reader like myself, you have possibly have a few books you save and pull out for those times you need to escape and possibly even let it all out with a good cry.  This is that book for me.