Hello,
This is my first, and hopefully not my last, post here. In case you didn't check out my profile, I've been in Public Safety for a long time, the majority of it as a dispatcher and some as an EMT. Take away my name and I could be any of the salt & pepper-haired veterans sitting at a console in your Communications Center.
You know the type: the gal (or guy) who shows up to work, does his or her job, no longer volunteers to train or do projects, and especially doesn't do overtime unless ordered. I bet that one dispatcher recently switched to night watch. She or he doesn't cause problems, and probably is quiet unless another dispatcher makes trouble - then, watch out! New hires are told to stay away from the (insert any unpleasant word here). It's not that we're mean, we just don't want to put up with clueless, morons, or those who won't take rsponsibility for their own actions. Maybe that's why so many veteran dispatchers are grumpy, nasty, mean, and generally unpleasant. Too many are at the down hill side of their careers, putting in their time. They are burned-out, nursing unreported repetitive injuries but have seen too many of their coworkers go away with minimal or no benefits - a career wasted.
To those who say I can't change my spots, I say yes I can. I am not the nasty, grumpy, burnt-out person I was when I left the PD. I won't ever be as involved as I was before - certainly not to the pint of taking work home (how does a dispatcher take work home, anyway?). I still love my job and do it to the best of my ability.
It's sad, but too many of the younger generations don't have the same work ethic we baby-boomers do. Yep, I said it. Maybe that is because of the time we were brought up in. I know they 20 & 30 something's are tired of hearing this, but it's true. Technology may be great - but at what price? When the computers go down, when the gadgets stop working, when people can't connect on their social media, they are lost. The old-timers like me aren't fazed out at all. I learned to dispatch on a desk mike with a Thomas mapbook. There were a few times when I sat in a spare ambulance, in the driveway dispatching units, listening for the phone to ring. It was a mad dash to the basement to get the phone, then a quick sprint in the pouring rain back to the ambulance to put out the call. I didn't think twice about it...dispatching was temporary until I cleared maternity leave back then.
When the power went out at the PD, I pulled out my personal copy of my city beat map and started entering calls on data cards. I knew the City liek the proverbial back of my hand back from the days before CAD. That was when we had to learn hundred blocks, main streets, beats, census tracts, landmarks, and highways. The junior dispatchers were lost without the CAD system - how did they determine which units to send or back-ups? Even now, a conputer is a tool - not the end-all savior for dispatchers.
Eight different CAD systems with multiple agencies have taught me one thing - no computer system is crash proof no matter what the IT folks tell you in the training sessions. And I've yet to meet a company that's had a dispatcher help design a CAD program.
As the Marines say, 'Adapt and Overcome'.
I also have my map book with me...just in case.
if you are curious about my other dispatch-related topics, check out my other blog:
http://www.dianasprain.net/