Quote:
Originally Posted by Mircea
I didn't, but then I have more important things to do.
Very obviously the recruitment process is a total fail and waste of tax-payer money.
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No, the recruitment process is not a total fail and waste of tax-payer money.
Very few applicants have know what the job entails. A lot of them know only what they see on TV or in the movies. A lot of them think it is a secretarial type job. My department required applicants to sit in dispatch for at least 8 hours (through different shifts) prior to even being interviewed. That move cut down a lot on drop outs due to the type of job.
Very few applicants can handle the stress of having peoples lives in your hands (civilian, law enforcement, fire or medical.) Added to that stress is the shift work and overtime. Dispatching is not just answering phones and sending people. You have to learn how to prioritize calls, learn which units are to respond to which types of calls, which fire apparatus is needed, etc. They have to learn how to listen and obtain information from various types of callers; the ones who can do nothing but scream because they found their child dead to the extremely cold, calm, dispassionate ones to the ones who do nothing but curse at you. They need to learn how to deal with each one of those and still be able to perform the job.
Law enforcement officers, for the most part and obvious reasons, learn just law enforcement and maybe some primary first aid. Fire fighters and Emergency Medical responders learn their functions. Dispatchers have to learn all of it. They have to learn the basic laws, the information the officer needs or is going to need to respond correctly to the call. (The good ones know what they are going to need and try to get that info before the officer calls for it.) They have to learn basic fire responses, emergency medical dispatching. They have to learn all the districts and street locations for both law enforcement as well as fire and medical. They have to learn all the computer systems.
They have to learn how to control their emotions on the phone and radio. They have to be able to control their emotions when they get a bad call involving a member of their family or an officer or firefighter down call. (These calls are every dispatcher's nightmare and believe me, I have handled each one of those.)
So, no, not everyone can do the job and do it well. I, for one, am glad for the training process because it does help find those few that can do the job.
I spent 33 years on the job and am proud of all 33 of those years. I didn't have nearly the amount of training they get now, but I did learn on the job. I am also proud to say that I won employee of the quarter a dozen times because my officers and my firefighters recommended me.
Those 33 years were not easy while trying to raise my three kids. There are still calls that haunt me and will always do so. If I had to do them all over again, I would.
Please do not blow this off as your life may depend on a dispatcher some day.
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