9-1-1 Police Dispatchers, literally, have lives on the line

B.C.

2023-08-12 10:00 PDT

Being the calm, steady voice at the other end of the line is sometimes all a person needs. When someone calls 9-1-1, they are most often in a highly stressful situation or may be in despair.

A young man was walking on the side of the highway. He was carrying a knife. He was contemplating cutting himself or even jumping into traffic. Then he called 9-1-1.

I stayed on the line with him for over an hour, says Cassidy, the 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher who answered the call. I had dispatched the police but I knew that it would take about an hour for them to reach the young man who was walking far from the nearest detachment.

The dispatcher knew that she must collect information from the caller that would be vital to the police who were on their way. Besides location, police dispatchers make inquiries into the person’s condition and the details of what was happening.

I was just talking to him, says Cassidy. I asked him questions about his life and his family. I tried to normalize the situation. He said he was upset and had left his family. Being Christmas, I knew emotions were running high.

Police dispatchers are trained in how to talk people through some very tense and fear‐stricken moments. They have access to resources to support those who are often in dire situations. Quick thinking is a must for potentially life-threatening scenarios. It takes an impressive amount of mental clarity, dexterity and laser-sharp focus to be a police dispatcher.

During university, I volunteered with the Kids Help Phone crisis line and I texted with multiple kids and teenagers who were wanting to harm themselves, says Cassidy. Those conversations have helped me. We were trained to use active listening and to work with the person to problem solve.

The role of the dispatcher is to protect the public and the police. They must obtain enough information from the caller to ensure the police have all the details they need prior to arriving at the scene. Police Dispatchers have to anticipate the next move: What will the officers need next? Who else needs to be there to support them, such as the Police Dog Service, Air Services, or Negotiators. They must know the status of each of the officer on duty, to monitor and track police resources, and to ensure officer safety. This is especially true during high priority calls.

You want to have empathy towards the person while, at the same time, get as much information as you can for officer safety, says Cassidy. But, honestly, having a calm voice is the most important thing for the caller and for the police officer.

High priority calls, such as this one, require the police dispatcher to be completely focused. They must rely on the support system of their colleagues.

While I was on the call with that young man, recalls Cassidy, my coworkers were answering my other calls; helping me find resources. The caller needed my undivided attention and the other dispatchers backed me up. It’s like we have a sixth sense and just know when someone is dealing with something and you take over for them.

Cassidy started working part time through the Student Program as a Call Taker at the Southeast District Dispatch Centre in Kelowna when she was attending university. She has been working full time since 2020. Both her parents are retired RCMP police officers and told her about the role. Also, her brother just became an RCMP officer within the last few years. So, it’s clear she grew up in a policing environment. It just came naturally for her to join the RCMP. But shift work was new to her. Dispatchers have 12-hour shifts of four days on and four days off. They typically work two-day shifts followed by two-night shifts.

I was a night owl, says Cassidy, so I found the nights to be pretty easy. I was just 19 years old when I started. I would just eat super crappy during the night – fast food.
Cassidy soon learned that was not sustainable.

Now I know to be healthy at work, I need to eat properly, exercise and definitely not drink a bunch of caffeine before you have to lay down for a proper rest, says Cassidy. This is not a job you want to show up tired for. Everything needs your full attention because you, literally, have lives on the line.

Today, she does yoga which she finds relaxes her and helps her with her mental health, especially since dispatchers have to sit for most of their shift.
She has also changed her mindset around eating meals. She treats the night shift as if it were a regular day at the office.

I eat my breakfast, my lunch, and then when I get home, I eat my dinner in the morning, which is technically my breakfast, says Cassidy. When I come in for a night shift, it's like, ‘Good Morning.’ I just treat it differently and I think that's helped a lot.

The dispatcher’s ability to take control of a call and calm someone down when they are stressed, has taught Cassidy some important life skills.

I’ve grown as a person, says Cassidy. Particularly my communication skills. I don’t have a fear of public speaking. I can get my message across easily and I’m good at problem solving. I have learned to quickly come up with alternate solutions while considering what is the fastest, most efficient way I can do something that will help someone.

She has learned how to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference – to have empathy for the caller, no matter the situation.

You really have no idea what is going on with a person who is calling 9-1-1, adds Cassidy. I've found that to be probably the most enlightening part of this job.

One of the skills she has learned is multitasking. There are two functions of the 9-1-1 call. When you call 9-1-1, the dispatcher will ask you many questions to get all the details about what is happening. The next step is to dispatch the police to the location. The initial details of the 9-1-1 call is dispatched to the police officer using computer-aided dispatch (CAD) software in real time. The dispatcher continues to obtain more details from the caller which is concurrently added to CAD so the police officer has the most current information.

I'm talking to a caller in one ear, and then I've got the officer talking in my other ear, and I'm responding to both people simultaneously, says Cassidy. Honestly, when I first sat with someone to learn dispatching, I was like, there's no way I'm going to be able to do that. I don't know how you do it, but now, I do it like every day. It just becomes natural.

Not everyone can balance these simultaneous but seemingly opposing tasks. While the role of the police officer has its own complexities, many would not be able to tackle the job of the one who protects them and guides them to the scene.

Admittedly, dispatching is a stressful job. Yet, it is important to have laughter to lift the mood and relieve the stress. And you get some funny calls as well.

When someone calls in and, you know, they're yelling, says Cassidy. They're screaming, very erratic. And you think what is going on? It could be a stolen purse or it could be someone was just shot. You just never know.

Then there are also the humorous calls. Those who call about a rampant deer running on the road or a vicious squirrel.

There are the calls where people think police are needed, says Cassidy. They say, ‘My husband keeps moving the garbage can. Can you help? He won't listen to me. And I say, ‘no ma'am. This isn't a police call.’

Despite the pressure-filled environment of the Police Dispatch Centre, Cassidy finds the balance.
There's not an ounce of stress in my body, she admits. It's kind of stress relieving just to come to work. Not a lot of people would say that – it makes no sense. Honestly, I just really love the adrenaline, especially when it's super busy. I love dispatching. It gets your brain flowing.

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