By: Chief Fred Maas
Sunny Isles Beach Police Department

Did you ever wonder who the person behind the “Voice” on the other end of the phone was when you call for the police in an emergency? Well, they are a very unique group of persons known as “Communications Officers or Dispatchers.”
They are as different and diverse as the shells on the beach yet they share many common traits as well. They come in all different types and backgrounds, cultures, education, but they share a common goal: to help save lives and protect people’s property in an emergency.
The week of April 14th is NATIONAL TELE-COMMUNICATIONS APPRECIATION WEEK. These men and women are the life-saving connection between the “caller” in an emergency and the police or fire rescue personnel who respond to your emergency. And their job is NOT AN EASY ONE!!
Take for example, the young mother who is not trained in CPR or basic first aid measures, whose infant or toddler child has inadvertently swallowed an object and is now choking, turning blue and not breathing! This is a MEDICAL CRISIS! The untrained parent or guardian will immediately panic, become fearful and frantically call the police in an hysterical state. The caller is usually so emotional they scream into the phone, are confused and cannot provide the basic information making the job of the communications officer even more difficult. Callers get so emotional during crisis they will forget their own names, the address where they live and other basic but vital information. In criminal situations the problems are similar; victims of a robbery, burglary or hit and run will be unable to tell you descriptions of subjects, makes or types of vehicles or which way the subjects fled.
This is where the professional comes in as a communication operator or dispatcher. This is where their training and expertise kicks in. The need to remain calm when a caller is not and is hysterically yelling at them. The need to be persistent and extrapolate all the basic and vital information from the caller in order to properly send and direct the officers or firefighters or rescue personnel to the emergency. The need to communicate or handle a non-English speaking caller or a foreigner to our country and provide help in a calm, collected manner that benefits both sides of the emergency, caller and responder.
It is a Stated Fact that most people in life will rarely endure a true emergency involving life or death. Therefore, when they do it becomes an unfamiliar, unpleasant adventure. They panic and often times act totally out of character for them. Their only real, definable act is that when they call 9-1-1 or the police direct line, they have now connected with someone who will help them.
In talking with communications officers, which is what I prefer to refer to them as, because they do so much more than just “dispatch” calls, I learned some very interesting difficulties about their job. Being confined to an area, stationery, for such an extended period of time (full shift of work) does get to a person. Even in an office type setting, clerical persons are able to move about without fear of missing an emergency or life threatening call. The difficulty of the extreme mood swings from highs to lows, creating highly stressful times followed by hours of just normal or routine work and calls. How does a person adjust from handling a life or death situation, possibly successfully saving a child’s life by giving proper medical directions over the phone while medical personnel respond to the scene, to then handling callers wanting the most basic, non-emergency information? The swing is far too great of an emotional roller coaster ride. Yet they are expected to handle each call, each caller, in the same professional, efficient and courteous manner, regardless of the call. Yes, it’s true; they do get calls asking for good restaurants to eat at; movie times; directions to destinations and even some of the most intimate questions referring to medical conditions! Trust me, DISPATCHERS could write books just like cops could about their experiences.
Their responsibilities are many. They are challenged to multi-tasking. At times they have multiple phone lines coming into the communications center. They are responsible for monitoring at least 2 and sometimes 3 separate police radios. They handle walk up citizens to the lobby. They monitor the teletype machine passing important messages for law enforcement. Most importantly, they protect and take care of their officers, our officers, by giving them every bit of information and details they can, in order to keep them safe, before, during and after the officers respond to a call. They truly worry about their officers. No one, I mean NO ONE, wants an officer hurt on their shift. Many of them have spouses working on the road, sons and daughters, close friends. They need to take their job seriously and they do. After all, lives are at stake, officers and citizens. So they deserve not only the recognition but the appreciation. I call them our connecting life line between those in need during an emergency and those who resolve the emergency.
This week is about “APPRECIATION” for the job they do. A good communications officer is worth every penny they are paid and more, because in an emergency, they are the voice of calm, cool and collect, that may just help that panicky mother do what is needed to dislodge that object from her baby’s airway. They are the instructor of CPR to the elderly woman whose husband lies on the kitchen floor, not breathing, in need of immediate CPR until rescue arrives. They are the voice of calm when you have been accosted on the street and the robbers are getting away with your personal belongings.
These men and women are the lifeline between the caller and help and how soon they get there. Your “panic” is changed by their professionalism. Your need is changed into their directed response. Your life or that of a loved one is saved by “how well they do their job.”
A heartfelt thanks therefore to the “VOICE” on the other end of the phone. We salute you during this week of appreciation, recognition and gratitude!!!
THANK — YOU
“COMMUNICATIONS OFFICERS”