We had an officer involved-shooting last night at my agency. We have them on occasion, but last night [Wednesday, May 9] one of my brothers was shot in the hand while the suspect was trying to take his duty weapon from him. It ended with one bad guy dead, one arrest and one still at large. It all started with a minor traffic violation. A routine call. But we all know in the industry there is no such thing as a routine call.

What do you do to prepare yourself for these types of calls? As public safety telecommunicators, we should always be alert for potential dangers to the field units. Our timers on our CADS are set to three minutes for traffic stops and other priority calls to remind us to do a safety check on our deputies. Do you know what can happen in three minutes? I train my rookies to give the deputy just enough time to make the initial contact with the driver—about 30–60 seconds. Some of my people have gotten used to being checked on so quickly that now they will actually beat me to it at times and call out their own status check.

There are certain calls that make us automatically perk up and sit up a little straighter in our chairs: alarms from banks, silent intrusions, weapon calls of course, domestic violence, assault, battery and robberies to name a few. But what about the routine or mundane calls that we respond to all day long? Barking dogs, loud music or parties, ongoing neighborhood disputes, or your regulars who love to call almost daily?

Think how these calls can go from the routine or mundane to a critical incident. Why is the dog barking? Is his owner in some kind of trouble? Is someone breaking in, or are they suffering a medical event? Isn’t there always alcohol at most parties? We all know how alcohol and drugs alter one’s mental status. We are watching a murder trial in our county right now in which the suspect told our detective that he “had just about enough of his neighbor,” so he made him kneel down before him and shot him in the back of the head. What about the little old lady who calls every day to report hearing someone trying to break in? Maybe this time, she really does hear something. Just a couple of weeks ago, we were asked to do a wellbeing check on a “depressed” female who wasn’t answering her phone. She came to the door with a firearm pointed at our deputies and forced them to make a fatal decision.

What do you do to prepare for these and other “hot” calls? Do you check the location history to see how many times your agency has responded there? We lost a deputy who was shot and killed as he was getting out of his vehicle for a domestic-related call. We had been out several times earlier in the day. The last deputy who had responded told the residents that if he had to come out “here again, someone is going to jail.” That deputy had gone home for the night, and the next shift had never been there before and had no idea what he was walking into. Would the information have made a difference in the outcome? Maybe, maybe not. Our calltakers are trained to get full names and dates of births of the aggressor if at all possible so we can do a preliminary check on them before officers get there. I always look for violent or weapons charges in histories. I want my deputies to be as prepared as possible. I always tell my trainees, “If you were responding to this call, what would you want to know before you got there?”

Do you ever run calls through your head before you even get them on your screen? Like actors, dancers or any choreographed routine, if you prepare yourself ahead of time for the “what ifs” then you won’t be caught off guard when the “what if” finally happens. As officers are en route, I’m pulling up my maps, checking for potential escape routes, checking the area for a perimeter to be set up and getting all my ducks in a row for the first unit to get on scene. I’m running all possible scenarios in my head. Which district or zone will need to shift over to provide backup? What’s the first thing that needs to happen if things turn bad? Have I made all my notifications?

Just as your field units use a tactical approach for potentially hazardous calls, we as telecommunicators should use our training to give officers as much information as possible and be the support they so critically need during these calls. They need to be able to trust that voice on the other end of the radio. You may be their only link to help when things go south. That’s why you should always take your training seriously. You do what you train. And you can never train enough.

Preparation is the key. To be prepared is be a professional. If you feel you are lacking in an area, ask for training. Practice with your shift partner if formal training is not readily available. Take responsibility for your career and profession. Subscribe to training publications, most are free, like this one! Keep up to date on technology and trends in the industry. Are you up on NextGen and what’s coming up in the future for your profession?

While no call is the same and there is no such thing as routine in our line of work, you can be prepared, trained and ready for whatever your day might throw at you. I talked to several telecommunicators as I was writing this article. some newbies and a few seasoned ones. They all pretty much said they don’t do anything to prepare for their day. I would encourage them to reconsider. I know you can’t predict what’s going to be on the other end of the phone or what call is going to drop on your screen or even what lies behind the door or around the corner for your field units, but you can prepare. You can train, keep yourself updated, mentally alert and ready for that “what if.” You owe it to yourself, your shift partner, your department, division and the public you serve.

Finally, I would encourage you to run through the call after the fact. Is there anything that you could have done better or something that you forgot to do that may have contributed to a better result? Critique yourself, make mental notes of things you will do differently or better next time. Strive to be the best you can be.

If you can predict it, you can prevent it; prevent the anxiety or stress that comes from not being prepared. Be safe my family.

About the Author
Cindra Dunaway is a 9-1-1 dispatcher for the Lee County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office. Contact her via e-mail at [email protected].