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I too wondered why she didn't just order online. If you listen to the call, she's speaking with what appears to be a local pizza shop, not a national chain, because she's ordering individual slices and says some will be cash and the others are on three separate credit cards. She ignored audio and visual signals that there was an incoming call. A reprimand is total BS--she deserves nothing less than a firing! Imagine if someone had died because they loss those eight minutes.
A different Source said there were Other Dispatchers also on Duty, (50+)
It sounds like she did not logout of her station when she was on her Pizza Ordering time period.
Also sound like a software issue, If the Call Director software had directed the call to her station and she did not pick it up within the "Allotted" time 10? seconds? The Call Director Software should have taken the call back from her station and re-queued it to a different station.
Quote:
The investigator's reports show that the operator acknowledged that she should have terminated the lunch order and taken the emergency call when she heard the call coming in. She was officially given a letter of reprimand.
No, she was aware that there was a call, she just didn't care. That is South Florida for you. The people down there do anything to get out of working, and the excuse making list is huge. Loved the state for the beauty, the people were fricken ridiculous.
I just toured an emergency preparedness site that coordinates most of the provinces smaller fire stations. It's a new system and the manager was about forty, trim and fit. The job pays Union rate plus benefits in an area where there's no shortage of applicants. EVERY young lady at each station was pushing 300 pounds PLUS. Every one had a sugar drink (extra large) in front of them.
The LAST thing you'd think they'd be ordering was PIZZA.
I too wondered why she didn't just order online. If you listen to the call, she's speaking with what appears to be a local pizza shop, not a national chain, because she's ordering individual slices and says some will be cash and the others are on three separate credit cards. She ignored audio and visual signals that there was an incoming call. A reprimand is total BS--she deserves nothing less than a firing! Imagine if someone had died because they loss those eight minutes.
But those calls should roll over to the next dispatcher. It's bizarre if they don't have a system that does that. What if she had passed out or fallen out of her chair or any one of 100 things...for 8 minutes no one else knows to answer the phone? Something stinks about this, I'm not defending her but geezus this is 2016, they had computerized dispatch systems for at least the last 25 or 30 years that handled situations like that.
I just toured an emergency preparedness site that coordinates most of the provinces smaller fire stations. It's a new system and the manager was about forty, trim and fit. The job pays Union rate plus benefits in an area where there's no shortage of applicants. EVERY young lady at each station was pushing 300 pounds PLUS. Every one had a sugar drink (extra large) in front of them.
The LAST thing you'd think they'd be ordering was PIZZA.
Well maybe the agency should restrict what they eat Dispatch is a high stress job, there are never any shortage of applicants but retention is usually a big problem. I've known overweight dispatchers and thin dispatchers so I don't think your experience of 'every young lady pushing 300 pounds' is typical of all dispatch operations.
Most public agencies restrict employee access to the internet, some dispatch centers don't allow employees to bring their phones into the dispatch center with them.
Here's another article It was in Sunrise Florida. "The only call-taker who was available at the time, Frances Francois, was on the phone with Poppy's Pizza for eight minutes, a Broward Sheriff's Office investigation found. Four more call-takers who were supposed to be on duty at 11 a.m. that morning weren't — and offered "no plausible reasons for their tardiness,'' Broward County administration officials found. Eight were busy on other calls".
"The embarrassing mistake was one more in a litany of complaints since Broward County formed a countywide system in 2014 for dispatching 911 calls....The new dispatching system succeeded in its main goal, which was to handle most 911 calls without having to transfer them. Callers using landlines have no trouble reaching the correct dispatch center. But the overwhelming majority of Broward 911 callers use cell phones. Cell phone calls can be misdirected to the wrong dispatch center by the cell phone tower....The new system, supported by voters in a 2002 charter amendment, has been dogged by troubles, though. Among them: A failing radio system, call-takers who aren't familiar with city geography and businesses, and fighting between the county, which owns and pays for the system, and Broward Sheriff's Office, which has a contract to operate it."
So yeah the dispatcher screwed up, but what the hell was the supervisor thinking? If you're down four call takers the supervisor sits down and starts answering calls or calls the Watch Commander and tries to get a light duty cop or a reserve officer to fill in.
Thiis is a system problem... And human problem... And a training problem..
System problem...
Any 911 call unanswered by the primary psap...public safety answering point.... Automatically rolls over to next in line... Another dispatch console/new dispatcher... Unanswered goes to second psap..fire department... Unanswered next in line state agency... Even small departments are set up this way so I'm no sure what part of the process broke down
Human problem..
. When you are assigned a dispatch cosole priority calls for service take precedence over anything. You hang up on pizza orders... You throw your food in the garbage and run if your eating on the hood of a radiocar ( real police never go to a sit-down restaurant if they are working patrol)
Training problem
Community care expectations come from the top down... Demand professionalism through proper training and review. Pay appropriate wages to get professional career employees.. If the FACTS are as presented and there are no mitigating circumstances a letter of reprimand. Potential demotion would be proper...if it was purposefuland can be proven... Fireable offense
Last edited by notmeofficer; 01-21-2016 at 07:03 AM..
A different Source said there were Other Dispatchers also on Duty, (50+)
It sounds like she did not logout of her station when she was on her Pizza Ordering time period.
Also sound like a software issue, If the Call Director software had directed the call to her station and she did not pick it up within the "Allotted" time 10? seconds? The Call Director Software should have taken the call back from her station and re-queued it to a different station.
I bet she is an hourly worker. If she logged out, she would not be able to bill her time until she logged back in.
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Dispatch is a high stress job, there are never any shortage of applicants but retention is usually a big problem. I've known overweight dispatchers and thin dispatchers so I don't think your experience of 'every young lady pushing 300 pounds' is typical of all dispatch operations.
