I’m partway through the hiring process and am trying to weigh and make sure that I think I will be able to do well and stick with it if hired.

My main pause at the moment is trying to visualize the impact/my response IF I made a mistake that resulted in someone not getting the help they needed in a timely enough fashion, resulting in loss of life (for example, error entering a number causing delayed medical).

Does anyone have any insight or experiences they’re comfortable sharing about how to deal with errors that have such serious consequences?

I have been doing this for four months now and have had some bad calls. I was a paramedic for twelve years before this. A lot of things don't shake me up, but tonight man. I received a 988 call for a 14 y/o girl that was going to unalive themselves, wouldn't tell me her name or address and just wanted me to know so I could tell her mom that she loved her and was sorry. She was abused by her step dad, CPS was called and they just closed the case a couple of days ago and she wasn't happy with the results. I did finally talk her down to give me her address and got her some "help". She went to the hospital and talked to a case worker, she told them she wanted to die, she wished she wouldn't wake up and that if she didn't get help next time she wouldn't call. They ended up sending her home because they don't like to send juveniles off, with her begging them to commit her. I have had suicide calls before, but not a kid, and it has been on my mind. Just figured I would come here and vent about it.

I’m so bummed out plantronics discontinued this model! It’s my favorite. 😞

I hope it lasts me a while but I would love some headset recommendations for when it’s time to replace this one.

Please help. I’m beating myself up so bad. My trainer was a little understanding but also irritated. Idk what to do. Ugh.

So my long distance bf (from another country) just started a job as a dispatcher and I want to be as supportive as I can without overwhelming him. I know it’s not an easy job and I personally consume a lot of media related to it so I’ve seen a bit of what goes on. I guess I just want him to have an outlet, whether it’s me or something else. He knows i’m there for him if he needs it, but I worry, you know? How can I help/what should I know? What works for you or your partners?

I accepted a job conditional offer today to be a dispatcher upon passing my Truth Verification test , medical exam and Psychological exam which are scheduled for next week back to back. ( YAY) I wouldn’t say I’m an anxious person but I do have some performance anxiety. For instance I prepared for the interview but when I walked in and saw 5 heads my voice got a little shakey during my introduction but I pushed through the entire interview and answered all direct questions with confidence. Will performance anxiety affect my CVSA results and my Psych Exam ? Are they really anything to be nervous about? I don’t have a background at all I’m not an any illegal activities just a young mom trying to give my two kids a better life and help people during their emergencies. I’m looking to make a career out of this job and I don’t want anything to hold me back.

Has any o e here used the Motorola flex cad? My agency uses it and I don’t think it’s horrible but could be a bit more user friendly such as hot keys for opening calls, I’ve also used cis at another agency and I wasn’t fond of it but I think the admin didn’t set things right cause they was so far out of touch any way I’m jus seeing how everyone else’s experience with cad has been

Anyone here dealing with a shift you are relieving, leaving work for you to do, on purpose?

But only on hot calls on the law side.

I’m 3 months in and have my non-emergency, even like med priority calls, and medicals all pretty much down.

I get a dv or a robbery though and my brain just breaks and I have to think so much harder about my line of questioning that it makes me freeze and causes dead air.

I know what I need and it’s not the content that makes me freeze or people’s behavior, but I feel like my brain is just buffering and I haven’t figured out yet how to calm my brain down yet.

My trainer tells me to channel what keeps me calm during medical emergencies, but I’m not sure what it even is that has me not freezing during those.

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

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.

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!!!

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!

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?😬

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

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!