There are a couple of ways to foster better understanding between field units and Public Safety Telecommunicators (or dispatcher for the sake of this blog - it's easier to type): combined training, ride-alongs, off-duty social gatherings, and sit-alongs. As with ride-alongs, sit-alongs provide the best opportunity for both sides of the radio to see what the other half does.
How does the dispatcher make the occasion interesting and educational at the same time?
First, welcome the officer / firefighter / medic and/or EMT with a friendly tone. Introduce yourself and have a headset ready for he/she to use. Give a quick rundown of the Communications Center and explain what the various sections are and what the duties consist of. Are calls and radio separated or does everyone handle everything? WIll you be rotating to a different station or will you stay in one place?
Let the person know what to expect when you answer the phone and/or radio. Is the headset he will be using good for monitoring only or does it have the capability of transmitting? Make sure he understands to keep quiet while you are speaking over the phone or radio. Any questions should wait until you are done with calls or between radio traffic. This is important. You don't want any off-the-cuff remarks going out over the phone or radio channel.
If at all possible, try to work the radio channel for the field person's area. Explain what the Computer-Aided Dispatch system is and how it works. Show him how you enter on-viewed events (traffic stops & field contacts). Point out how information comes across the screen when a unit is dispatched to a call. Show him when the units are updated, changed from enroute to on-scene, welfare check okay (code 4), cover needed, and cleared. For fire and ems, do you recorded hospital transports? What about fire ground information such as who is Incident Commander, second (or higher) alarm requests.
Pull up prior events to an address, hazard information (if available), prior contacts, and do a unit history for your visitor. Do you attach inquiry returns on a plate to an event?
If he feels brave enough or boasts that 'he can dispatch, no problem', and there is an available console next to you (and CAD has a training program), log in for him and set up the program to mimic the shift's units. Let him try to keep up with the activity as you dispatch live. Once the reality check smacks him down and he gets behind, hand over a pad of paper and tell Mr. Ego to just write everything down.
Have your field unit write down on the note pad the radio traffic coming in as it happens. Compare notes. Remind him you're typing in the information and responding at the same time, while tracking other units and dispatching pending calls. How well does he keep up? You're also keeping an ear on your co-workers. That person taking on 9-1-1 mentions a gun and you are ready for the in-progress event. Same goes for flames seen or talk of CPR. You hear two units talk about a possible stolen vehicle on a secondary channel and you get ready for a possible pursuit.
This is called multi-tasking. When the chase is on, you've already ran a plate and pulled up a map. Your partner has called and verified the vehicle is stolen. Teamwork make the Communications Center look good.
When the shift is over, he thanks you and leaves with a new appreciation for dispatchers.
Is this a stretch of the imagination?
No, it's not at all.
I've had more officers (law enforcement and a couple of fire personnel) sit with me over the years. A good majority of the personnel were probationary employees in the department's field training phase. Most came in with pre-conceived opinions of dispatch: you know the type...dispatch is here to serve the field units. We sit around with nothing to do until we answer the radio. They had no idea what happened behind the microphone. Most walked away with a deeper understanding of our job and a few just walked away.
At my current agency, we have one dispatch center and handle the law enforcement division for the State of Nevada's Department of Wildlife. We also contract to provide dispatching services for a couple of federal agencies law enforcement divisions. We stagger out schedules, which has the peak times with multiple dispatchers and the slower times with one. With the State divided in three regions and each region with up multiple channels (via repeaters), it can get busy. Last year we went live with a CAD system. CAD meant a change in how we handled basic calls and field activity.
Needless to say, it was a big change for all involved. SInce the majority of our field personnel are unable to visit dispatch, it was difficult to convey the reason for why we wanted information broadcast in a certain manner (except in the obvious emergency situation). Anytime a unit came to the Reno (in the Western Region), we encouraged a visit to Dispatch. Wardens in the FTO phase spend some time in dispatch to begin with.
Just last week, to of our Southern Region wardens came in and weer very surprised to see what the process entailed to put them on a boat (vessel) stop. They both expressed frustration in the length of time it took to wait while we 'entered the call' when before CAD it was done immediately. The dispatcher on duty when they came by entered a few test calls to show both of them how CAD worked, explaining how our system needed information in a certain way. He explained what the screens were, what CAD was about, and what it could do for them.
The wardens walked away with a new appreciation for dispatch, and a bit of sympathy, too.
Never let an opportunity to education field personnel slip away. When your agency has an in-house training academy, encourage them to have a dispatcher teach the radio (communications) portion of the class. That also goes for any civilian staff that carry radios.
If you want people to use radios correctly, make sure they know how to use them properly by teaching them right the first time. Here's another example: at a public safety department I worked at, medical staff were issued radios to call for emergency help. The person who gave the radios to these medical staff claimed to have taught them how to use them. When the class came in, the user keyed the mike and said 'I need help'. It took a game of twenty questions just to figure out where they were at. They had no real clue how to use a radio. After many complaints, the personnel were trained in proper techniques.
Oh, and the small percentage who left dispatch without without getting anything out of the experience. Well, they learned how important their radios were when they had an officer needs help situation. I remember one in particular who had a extra large helping of the John Wayne syndrome. He really didn't want to sit in dispatch. After a pursuit and shots fired call (the bullets flew past him and hit a tree), the shaken-up officer paid us a visit. He was still visibly shaking when he sat down to chat with me. He said he was done being the gung-ho type of patrolman, and he said thanks for answering the radio.
Yeah, no problem, just doing my job.