Full Moon Effect Disproven

August 21, 2013

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary , , , , Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2013-08-21 at 5.14.47 AMI’ve been steadfast and firm in my conviction.  For years I’ve maintained, in the face of unrelenting public opinion to the contrary, that the full Moon has no effect on “the crazy”.

People claim that emergency room nurses and police officers all swear by the “full Moon” lore, that insists everything goes nuts on a full Moon.

Well, last night I disproved it.  Or, I should say, my dispatch center’s traffic levels disproved it.

Last night, at 6:45 pm Pacific Time, the Moon was full.  It was a calm, peaceful night.  No shootings, no stabbings (well, no stabbings by one person on another. There was one troubled kid who tried to stab himself, but for this discussion, he doesn’t count.  He’s just a troubled kid, not a lunatic.)  A few fights, a couple of loud music calls, a couple of badge bunnies, and a computer at one of the facilities that decided to let all the magic smoke out of it’s innards, setting off smoke alarms and scaring the DSOs.  A really easy shift, all things considered.

Now, the night BEFORE the full Moon, that was just crazy town!

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Oh, I didn’t just say that…

August 7, 2013

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary, Personal , , , , Leave a comment

dohI can’t believe I said that to the 9-1-1 caller.  It was unintentional, totally inappropriate, and had everyone in the room in fits of giggles.

Other dispatchers will understand the sometimes dark humor we express in our jobs, and how something that to an outside observer (or the brass) will seem completely humorless, but will have us guffawing and giggling for hours afterwards.  Something like that happened to me yesterday, and it involved a crashed aircraft and it’s pilot stuck on a rockface above a lake.

I really meant it to be reassuring, but it sure didn’t come out that way!

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Call 9-1-1 First!

July 23, 2013

Jim Reeves 9-1-1 , , , 2 Comments

picard-facepalmIt happened again!  Someone called someone else who called someone else, who called 9-1-1!  SMH

An armed robber walked up to a food stand, brandished a firearm, and demanded cash.  The clerk didn’t understand English, and the bad guy ran off.  Rather than call 9-1-1, she called her boss, who called someone else, who called the police!

While all this was going on, an armed suspect was making his get-away, and since nobody bothered to tell anyone the description of the robber, we have no way to spot him while units are enroute.

RULE #1 – Call 9-1-1 first!  It doesn’t matter what language you speak, we can get a translator on the line quicker than you can call someone else, tell them what happened, and then have them call.

Want to piss off a dispatcher? Act like you’re the only unit on the radio!

July 5, 2013

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary , , , , , , , 3 Comments

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We have procedures officers in the field are supposed to follow on the radio.  They are designed to allow the quickest, most efficient transfer of information possible.  It really gums up the works, and creates needless stress, when radio traffic is not conducted according to those procedures.

Last night, the 4th of July, was one of those nights that will have me cursing the name of a particular unit for a long time.  Those in the know will probably figure out who I mean just from their own knowledge of the departments and personel involved, but I’m not going to name names (or unit numbers!) (even though my “about” blurb says the guilty will be hung out to dry!  It is my job, so I have to be minimally diplomatic in this rant.  I may still hear about it from upper echelons).  I’m going to hope it’s simply a training issue, and not a case of “I’m the most important thing on this radio channel, and you better be able to handle what ever I do regardless of how many other things are going on!”.

How can any unit in the field not realize that there are 20-25 units on the same radio channel, it’s a national holiday, it’s hot as hell, and their dispatch center is a small room in the basement of the jail building?  Are you not listening?  You just key up and start talking?  Really?

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Dispatching at warp speed

June 25, 2013

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, geek, Personal , , , 2 Comments

Photo on 6-25-13 at 1.24 AM #2
Dispatching at warp speed. “Sub-space channels open, Captain!”

A Quiet Moment

May 16, 2013

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, Personal, Pictures , , , , , Leave a comment

2 am, 5/16/2013

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9-1-1: “Just the facts, Sir.”

May 8, 2013

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Should 9-1-1 operators kiss your ass, or save it?

IMG_2363Recent news coverage of the escape of three women from a decade long imprisonment, after their kidnappings as teens, has many people commenting on a perceived lack of empathy or concern for the victims on the part of the 9-1-1 operators in Cleveland, Ohio.  Most of the criticism is unwarranted.

Amanda Berry, the woman who escaped from the house, can be heard calling 9-1-1, here. The call by the man who assisted her, Charles Ramsey, can be heard here.  Go listen, then come back and let me give you my take on the calls.

Ok, back?  Before we begin, a reminder:  I’m a 9-1-1 dispatcher.  I’ve been employed in this position by a county Sheriff’s Department in Central California since July of 1994.  Which county is not germain, as this commentary is my personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of that agency.

That said, now it’s time to decide – should the 9-1-1 operator kiss your ass, or save it?

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“You did WHAT with your 2 year old???”

April 12, 2013

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary, Personal , , , , 4 Comments

kindergarten_cop
I don’t often order people around on 9-1-1 calls.  It’s not my place to tell them what to do, or how to behave.  My job is simply to gather information, and dispatch the appropriate equipment and people to deal with their emergency.  This morning a 9-1-1 call came in that tossed all my training right out the window.  I had to use my “cop voice”, and order someone (and it took several times) to do something.  I really don’t recall the last time I’ve done that.

This morning’s call, however, had me in full “get your ass back home right now!” mode.

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Our newest K9 visits dispatch

April 9, 2013

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, Humor, Personal , , , Leave a comment

“Daisy”, our newest K9, visits us during a slow moment in dispatch.  Until she’s trained, her primary attack form will be licking people into submission.

The Case of the Rooster on the lam

April 6, 2013

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary, Humor , , , 2 Comments

chicken“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” (just before midnight)

“My  chicken got loose and it’s in my neighbor’s back yard. Can I go back there and get it?  Nobody’s answering the door.”

I convinced him it would be a bad idea to go into his neighbor’s back yard at midnight, trying to capture his chicken.  He claimed it was his livelihood, but I’m figuring it’s not some remarkable stud animal.  I told him I’d send a deputy to speak to him about his options (I was glad I wouldn’t be the one actually dispatching the call….  “see the man about a chicken”), but he declined, as he said he’d been drinking a fair amount, and didn’t want to speak to a cop.

A few minutes later, the neighbor calls 9-1-1, reporting a strange man beating on his front door, looking for a chicken!

By the time we did dispatch a deputy to check the area, the man out looking for his unleashed cock had gone home, the neighbor went back to bed, and I have no idea what happened to the bird.

Another night in the life of a 9-1-1 dispatch center in the heart of ag country.

“9-1-1, what’s YOUR emergency?? “

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