A CAD ON 911

As a 911 police and fire emergency dispatcher I am one of the First – First Responders. It is not an exaggeration to state that lives - real, honest to God human lives - depend on the skills of myself and my co-workers. Not a brag – just a fact. The same is true of my fellow emergency dispatchers everywhere. It takes a lot to do this job. The skills can be learned – what questions to ask; how to talk to people; what calls to prioritize for the responding unit; and a million other things. They come with time and practice.

Of course, one must have a certain level of natural empathy as well as an ability to not let drama get to you. It is very difficult to move straight from a call from the mother of an infant who just passed away to the call from the local grouch who is upset about the neighbor’s dog barking at two in the afternoon; but we do it. Do we laugh in the face of other’s misfortune? Of course we do. We laugh so we don’t cry. We laugh so we can heal. We laugh with each other while inside our heart’s bleed. We laugh for the police/fire/medical units we send to calls – any of which is potentially life threatening. We laugh for those who call for our help. Those people with missing kids, abusive spouses or children, ailing elderly, ill young, and all that fall between. When we get home, then we can cry. I’ve been doing this job since 1992. It’s been quite a ride.

On a different note – as to the skills learned and needed for the job. It’s not all empathy and understanding. There is quite a lot of technology involved in the job of emergency dispatching. Multiple radio channels, phone systems with unbelievable channels and capabilities, map systems on which we rely to find that person injured in an auto accident in the middle of Lord Knows Where. The central unit of this process is the CAD system. CAD is Computer Aided Dispatch. It is the system we use to put Calls For Service into the system, assign officers to them, keep track of what unit is where, doing what, and all that. It’s quite complicated. Still, like any other computer system you use on a daily basis, it does become 2nd nature eventually.

As stated, I have been doing this job since I exited military service back in 1992. That’s a lot of years. There have been a lot of stressful waters under this bridge, but, as to technical skill – I was good to go. Then came that dreaded update on technology. The new CAD system. I recall spending a week or so learning the new system… but the training was not in depth enough.

We had to “learn on the fly.” For two months I came to work a nervous wreck… Knowing that I was not familiar enough with the new system to keep up with the hugely rapid speed requirements of keeping up with a large number of officers, incoming calls, calls already dispatched, traffic stops, and stuff that JUST HAPPENS at any given moment. A dispatcher has to be quick, efficient, empathetic, and just plain a miracle worker. Two months… A nervous wreck. But, I learned and improved, along with my co-workers. Well, that time is coming again. We will be getting a new CAD again. We are supposed to be trained on it beforehand.

Been there. Done that. Wish us luck. Your life, or that of a loved one could depend on it.