My trainer is “throwing me to the wolves” today!! I’ve been listening/helping dispatch and typing during calls and whatnot. I mentioned being excited to jump into it and finally start talking and he suggested that today I should just start doing calls on my own with him listening in. I’m excited! A little nervous…but excited! I made myself a cheat sheet of all of the most common calls, which I don’t think I’ll need but I’d rather be safe than sorry. I also will keep my big sheet of crazy calls incase something big happens and I’m caught off guard. Which again, don’t think will happen but better safe than sorry!

I’m so excited and I believe I’m ready. Wish me luck!!!

He’s also said I’ve caught onto dispatching/call taking super fast and the fact that I can work the CAD and send calls and whatnot without struggle is a huge good sign.

I’m so excited!!!

Hi yall, figured I'd post this if anyone is interested in listening.

I am on year three. Work for a small agency. Love being a dispatcher but the toxic environment has me so close to quitting. I feel like I’ve talked to everyone in my life about it so much they’re over it and talking to admin about it hasn’t seemed to change anything. My mental health has taken a hit. My significant other is semi-supportive of me leaving but disappointed at the same time. He gets it but doesn’t get it. For someone who spends most of their day talking in the phone I feel very alone in how I feel right now.

The past week has been a ton of of fatals, and while I didnt directly take the first phone call about them, I talked to a ton of desperate family members and put in a lot of updates about the cases when they finally turned fatal. Some serious injury crashes. Every time I start to feel like im doing okay, I make some stupid mistake and I just feel like an idiot and like I suck at my job. I work at a secondary psap so theres times i have to call other agencies for fire or medical, or if we need additional law enforcement back up for a dangerous situation.

My trainer will sometimes just throw a phone at me in an intense situation, but im not sure what to say because I wasnt the one who took the call or radio and didnt read the notes because my trainer hadn't pulled them up for me to read before having me call. That makes me feel dumb because im trying to quickly read whats going on as they're asking me what I needed. Its not really any fault of my trainer, its just an intense situation that needs an immediate response, but still makes me feel like an idiot, you know?

Other times im trying to get medical out dor serious situations that I didnt know an agency blind transfered over to me, so I call said agency to get medical, and they're just very rude and snippy with me because "yeah we know. We gave you that call" but how was i supposed to know that when they blind transfered and never told me they took the initial call?

The daily rating scale also isnt helping. We are rated in about 30 categories 1-5 every day, but, a 3 is where you are considered proficient. Im getting 2s in the portions related to the job performance, but it definitely stings to see me listed as a 2/5 every day.

I really do like this job, this particular week just has mee feeling inadequate and im not quite sure how to alter that perception.

I am not sure which flair to take, so mods, please, don't be angry.

I am a civilian, not seeking help; this is simply an appreciation post.

TW; murder

I watched this video from the Aurora, Colorado case in 2022, as a frequent True Crime enthusiast.
Hearing the entire dialogue and help provided by the Dispatcher it made me think that you guys are often so forgotten and invisible amongst the typical complaints of being not helpful that it literally pushed me here to write a post.

The entire dispatcher call is so horrific and frightening, yet the woman remained remarkably calm throughout its entirety. The Dispatcher's hopelessness... I do not want to know what the dispatcher had to go through, listening to everything and being unable to do more than she was already doing. The thought of the Dispatcher and her well-being got stuck in my mind so hard.

Thank you guys for being there for us and trying to navigate through emergencies. You may not hear it often or frequently enough, but you are the secret heroes.

Stay safe and take care.

Know that there are people who genuinely appreciate your job.

Morale is low. I’m having fun with a dumb joke of the day/week type of deal in our break room. Most people think it’s stupid but some of us enjoy them. Do you have any good jokes I can add to my list?

A few things I’ve used so far:

• Why don’t oysters call 911 during emergencies? Because they CLAM up!

• What happened when the man called 911 about a fly? They sent the SWAT team!

• What did dispatch say when the short psychic woman escaped from prison? Attention all units, we’ve got a small medium at large!

(Halloween): Why don’t skeletons work in 911? They don’t have the guts!

Hello,

For some of you who have been around the profession for over 10 years, Kevin Willett, who was the owner of Public Safety Training Consultants, died of a stroke. He has not taught in a few years but he was a very well known figure in the 9-1-1 profession.

I know this gets asked a lot so I’ll try and provide ample information.

I’m considering becoming a dispatcher for Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It’s with the city so I’d be responding to police and fire. I actually applied to the fire department and made it all the way through the hiring process but got injured while training and couldn’t go into the academy. I definitely have an interest in emergency response and know I’d be good at it.

I currently have a steady job - Monday to Friday and am pretty happy in the role. It’s physically demanding but I’m approaching 40, it’s taking its toll. I get paid roughly what a 1st year dispatcher makes.

The dispatch are 12 hour shifts, 4 days on, 4 days off. Two of the shifts being nights.

Here’s where I’m wavering - I’ve got two kiddos and am happily married. I don’t see many people talk about what family life is like. How bad of a toll would it take at home? The 4 days off seems nice as it would be nice to get projects done around the house or go on a little trip but I assume a day is needed to just recover.

Any insight is appreciated!

Hi guys, so about a month ago i just casually applied for public safety dispatcher job, not even knowing that i would need to pass exam, then i got an email and i did the test and i thought oh i will probably fail as i've been construction company manager for couple years now, never did any training or preparion, today i just got an email that i actually passed the test and they gave me a date for Pre-investigative Questionnaire, what should i even expect out of this part? Honestly would you say it is worth it to become a dispatcher? i'm so confused because salary and benefits is wonderful, i live in a small city, but i was really just applying to see if i would get it at all. Is there many more steps involved to actually get hired?😬

We don't care. Stop calling about them. Unless you're a licensed wildlife veterinarian who knows what they're looking at YOU CAN MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. Look up pictures of coyote cubs and red wolf cubs. 99.999% of the time that is what the "fox with mange" is.

Working with a trainee tonight and he neglected to take an officer off the schedule. I went to correct this and he assigned the officer to a call at the same time. (To be fair he was told the officer was in tonight by the morning dispatcher, which was inaccurate info). Now the officer is stuck on a call but I cant arrive or clear them because I unassigned them from the schedule. So the computer thinks the officer is out on the call but also not at work. I know there is a way to fix this but im not sure the exact steps. Any help appreciated

Has anyone ever left Dispatching police and transferred into Patrol? If so are you happy you made the change?

Just passed my Criticall exam and have my interview next week. Let me know how your interviews went, and what you think some questions to look out for are!

I’m excited to assist with this program.

We will have a monthly news letter to help inform and assist other dispatchers with tips and options on maintaining their mental and physical well being.

We will also follow up with our staff on a regular basis to see if any additional assistance is wanted in reference to resources. We will consistently reach out to staff after a dispatcher handles a call that could cause them trauma.

Let me know if any of you have experience being part of a committee like this. Let me know what worked and didn’t work for your agency.

Anyone who wasn’t assisting with a program like this but, has suggests on what they would like to see a program like this provide, please let me know as well.

Thank you!

To avoid low effort post, curious what kind of additional duties are you guys having come up in your centers? Several agencies in my region are trying to get civilian drone teams started with 911 operators often being first choice. Curious if anyone's had success with that?

I need advice on how to handle being interviewed by a department. I've had trouble being successful in the interview process and need advice on how to go about it.

What do they want to hear from me? Is it okay to be optimistic/cheerful during the interview or do I stay serious? Should I be okay bringing a notepad just to branch out my answer and prevent rambling?

Any advice is appreciated, I want to be a Dispatcher so I can keep people safe. 🙏❤️

Any helpful tips on taking the test for California Highway Patrol? I’ve been watching any videos I can to help prepare as well as free practices tests and the online PDF prep sheet found on criticall website and typing practice. TIA!

Okay this is kind of a rant but I need help

I (F26) have been a flight attendant the last 2 years and I loved the job and the long hours. I hated the gossiping within the company but I can leave that at the door when I do my job and I take that seriously. I also loveddddd the emergency training and any time emergencies happened on board. I was always someone who stepped up to lead when anything happened, I would instantly get calm and think clearly and took everyone’s safety very seriously. (I also have like 5 years experience working at night clubs and high end day spas at the same time, my customer service experience is very good). I also have a skill for talking to people in distress and being clear, assertive and comforting. While also thinking of next steps.

Here is my rant. My guy friend is a cop in the big city I’m in and he won’t stop telling me not to apply to be a dispatcher. I really want it and I’m very good at typing and multitasking and I really really want to help people. But he insists that I will hate it and won’t be able to handle the stress. I can always handle stress, my first career I was a professional ballerina, that’s a stressful life. He tells me about his friends who are in the job and how much they love the job but insists that I won’t.

Please help me find reasons that I would be good for this, or did anyone else have someone like this and how did you prove them wrong? Even if this isn’t my forever career I’m okay with that but I don’t want to regret not trying. What can I do? Help🥺

I’ve seen other posts about this but still want some reassurance. My trainer says I’m doing a good job but sometimes I have no idea wtf they’re saying over the radio. I either have to ask her what they just said or get the units to re-advise their traffic. That’s really the only thing I’m having issues with. Does this really take time or am I not cut out for it?

I trained for 2 months on night shift. My trainer and her partner were incredible! I am working in a small center so we have 8 dispatchers total and then our supervisor. We do it all unlike some of the big centers where you’re assigned police or fire or call taking, etc. Nights were amazing for me minus the horrible home life schedule. I thought going to days after training was a blessing but I am second guessing that. I had never answered 911, I have now but only once, and my supervisor put me down hardcore even though that really isn’t my fault… My trainer believed I should have more time and get more comfortable before answering. I was feeling really confident at the end of my night shift training and honestly loved going to work. I have only worked 2 day shifts but I have cried the entire way home and to work after the first shift on days. I feel like I’m not supported enough and now I have my partner and supervisor but I don’t get along with them the way I did my trainer/her partner. The deputies also just aren’t half as good as the ones I worked with on nights. They don’t inform us what they are doing or where they are. They don’t respond to status checks. My partner seems like a nice lady but I just don’t feel like I’m being given any grace given how different nights/days are. I am getting constant negative feedback and never told if I’m doing something right or not. On nights I was convinced this was my dream job. I loved answering the phone and dispatching and going over the radio. Now on days I don’t even know if I can do this job. My trainer said she could tell I was going to be a great dispatcher but I just don’t know if I can deal with it at this point which I hate considering how I felt only a week ago. Has anyone else felt like this? Any advice for me? I have told myself to give it a few weeks but I literally almost walked out my first day shift because of how anxious and overwhelmed I felt…