Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Unsung heroes answer the call - 4/9/200371
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6A April 19, 2003 THISWEEK
Dls,patch/f8'om 1A
help arriving," he said. "I watch
these people every day -and am
quite often amazed at the quality
of work they do. We make a dif-
ference every day, there's no
doubt about it."
Eagan has five full-time and
four part-time dispatchers, with
two more currently in training.
The staff has to cover an opera-
tion that runs 24 hours a day, 365
days a year, with shifts typically
running 10 hours.
In addition, Eagan dispatchers
answer all calls from the city of
Rosemount, which does not have
its own dispatch center. Eagan is
also designated as a back-up sys-
tem for Dakota County in case
that system goes down.
Last fall, Eagan's dispatch
communication center was total-
ly renovated and now features
state-of-the-art technology to
improve communication between
the public and dispatchers as well
as dispatchers and officers.
typical day
Dawn Anderson, a 911 dis-
patcher for the Eagan Police
Department, has seen a lot in her
18 years on the job.
"There is no typical day. No
two days are the same," Anderson
said. "That's part of the fun of
this job. You work abnormal
hours, holidays, weekends. "
Dispatchers' jobs are full of
ups and downs, but they seem to
thrive on the unpredictability and
challenges thrown at them every
day.
"You have no idea when you
pick up that phone call what's on
the other end. That's the chal-
lenge," she said. "Do you have
the hysterical caller screaming at
you for help and you have no idea
what they need help for, or is it
the lady that just wants to tell you
the dog next door is barking
again?"
When dispatchers receive a
call, it is their job to determine
where the call is coming froin
and which officer to send. They
also send .an ambulance or page
the fire department if necessary.
"If it's an in progress .call, we
keep the caller on the line, getting
updated information to keep
updating the officers, especially if
there are safety concerns," she
said.
During. traffic stops, dispatch -
EG
Photo bvErin lohnson
pagan's state-of-the-art communication center allows dispatchers, like Chris Meade, to do
everything by computer.
ers run license plate information
and driver's license information.
They then advise officers if the
information is . valid or notify
them if there is a warrant out for
the owner of the vehicle.
Trust
Capt. Rick Swanson, who has
been with the Eagan Police
Department since 1975, said the
relationship between officers and
dispatchers is very unique.
"The dispatchers know how
the officers work and what type
of information they're looking for
depending on the call," he said. "I
think that leads to a better level.of
service to the citizens we serve."
A good working relationship
is important, he said, because
officers need to trust the dispatch-
ers in sometimes touchy situa-
tions.
"When that officer is going
into this situation, they have to
trust and rely on the information
the dispatcher is giving them," he
said. "The officers' lives are on
the line, and they have to have
faith in that dispatcher."
In Eagan, he said, the trust and
faith are there.
"The dispatchers ride with the
officers periodically," he said.
"They know the city, they know
the areas they're sending the offi-
cers to. That helps cement the
bond. They're very valued here."
Valued, he said, but probably
not always given the acknowl-
edgement they deserve.
"Often the dispatchers can be
a forgotten part of it, when in
reality they're the first person tak-
ing that call," he said.
And they work well under
pressure, he said.
He points to last summer,
when dispatchers were under-
staffed, their new communica-
tions center wasn't complete and
they were working on "bare -
bones" equipment.
"Their attitude was positive
every step of the way. There was
absolutely no disruption of any
service whatsoever," he said.
"They did an absolutely outstand-
ing job."
Wrong r
Being a 911 dispatcher means
dealing with a lot of misdialed
numbers.
"We have a lot of callers call-
.ing us when they're trying to dial
long distance or. trying to dial
411, or just hoping that we will
just be 411 for them," Anderson
said, laughing.
But their biggest problem is
cell phones, she said.
"We have numerous people
who just leave their cell phone
lying around, and they either set
their purse on it, their dog sits on
it or they let their kids play with
it. .
When any button on a cell
phone is. pressed for any amount,
of time, she said, the phone will
automatically dial 911.
"Now you have an open 911
line with somebody who acciden-
tally pressed the button and their
phone is just sitting there," she
said, "And you can hear thein
talking, but you can't get their
attention."
When they do eventually get a
hold of the cell phone owner, she
said, they advise them to either
turn off their phone or keep it in a
safe place. Locking a keypad
does not help, she said, which is
why she "highly recommends"
flip phones.
"We try to educate the public
as much as we can about it,
because a lot of people just don't
realize it," she said.
Even when someone is inten-
tionally dialing 911, said Kathryn
Falk, an Eagan dispatcher with 23
years of experience, they may not
realize they will be greeted ini-
tially by silence.
"Sometimes the phone does-
n't actually ring, 'so some people
Dispatch from 6A
flood. We had four dispatchers
in here and we were answer-
ing a call a minute. It was like
that from Friday night straight
through to Monday.
"But that's the kind of stuff
where you're there for the
people, you're there to help
them, you're doing everything
you can. It's worth it. That's
what you kind of live for
sometimes"
Tough caUs-
Suicidal callers are some of
the toughest to deal with,
Anderson said. °
"You're their only connec-
tion to reality at that moment.
Some of them are hanging on
to a very thin string, you're
trying to get them help and
you'll do anything you can,"
she said.
Anderson remembers one
call from a woman who had
locked herself in her bedroom
with her husband and kids in
the next room, threatening
suicide. Anderson had no idea
where she was calling from.
"I was getting someone to
trace the line for me," she
said. "I just kept talking to her
for 30 minutes until we could
get her some help."
Dispatchers are not able to
save all callers, however, and
some have even died while on
the phone talking to them.
But the toughest calls of all
for a dispatcher, she said, are
those reporting an officer
down.
"Your hardest call ever is
when your officer is in trouble
or injured," she said. "Because
you're doing everything you
can to get them help, and you
may not be able to because of
the situation, and there's noth-
ing you can do, and you're
feeling helpless:'
But for every tragedy, there
are many success stories. Like
the rape victim who called in
after she had been attacked
and was able to describe her
attacker.
"We got the information
out and caught the guy," she
said. "It was great team work,
and here we've stopped one
thing."
0 job
Anderson said she had a
Monday through Friday, 9 -to -
5 job in insurance after col-
lege, and she knew it wasn't
for her.
And after 18 years,
Anderson said she hasn't yet
burned out.
"There are days when you
do get tired, but I still just love
the job. And part of it is the
people I work with," she said.
"Our group is always support-
ive of each other. We're
always there when the chips
are down."
You have to love this job to
do it, she said.
-"Otherwise you wouldn't
be corning in," she said. "This
is not a job where you come in
in the morning and say, `This
is a job. I get a paycheck.' You -
have to want to help the peo-
ple, you have to want to have
to work hard for the people on
the street, or it's a job you
should not be in."
Falk said she, too, still
loves her job.
"I work for a really good
department. They are a good
group of people all the way
from the very top down," she
said. "This department really
cares about its people."
While Falk admits she has
gotten burned out at times, she
always bounces back.
"You work a lot of hours,
you're human, you get - tired.
But you learn how to deal with
it," she said. "But we've had a
lot of support from our admin-
istration here."
Stress
Stress comes with the terri-
tory, Anderson said.
Dispatchers work long hours
handling calls involving life-
threatening emergencies, and
the job can be tough on fami-
lies. Also, dispatchers don't
always know how a case they
handled is resolved, which can
be stressful, she said.
"We sometimes don't know
how our calls end. We do get
closure on some calls, but not
every one," she said. "Some
people need that closure, and
that's where they find the
stress levels go up."
Some just can't handle the
pressure of the job, she said.
In fact, she cites a statistic that
the average dispatcher now
lasts 4.5 years before burnout.
"So Eagan has been pretty
lucky," she said. "Either that
or we're all just crazy."
Erin Johnson is at
eagan. t h i s w e e k @ ecm-
inc. com.