Well, technically, the vacation ended yesterday. With my regular days off, I go back to work Monday. Hope I remember how to tell them where to go!
BOLO (AKA “Calling all cars, calling all cars”)
April 8, 2012
9-1-1, commentary, Humor all points bulletin, APB, BOL, BOLO, calling all cars, paranoid schizophrenic Leave a comment
At work 2/17/12
February 17, 2012
9-1-1, Personal 911, TCSO, tulare county sheriff 2 Comments
Working channel two tonight. You can listen on smart phone apps like 5-0 Radio, online at radioreference.com (California, Tulare County Sheriff, ch 2), or locally on your scanner at 453.650 MHz.
REAL “San Francisco values”
February 10, 2012
9-1-1, commentary, Gay San Francisco Police Department, San Francisco values, SFPD It Gets Better Leave a comment
The wingnuts go on about “San Francisco values”. Here’s a clear example of what they (don’t) mean.
There’s even a dispatcher in this bunch. Cool beans!
Cop show drama in real life
December 30, 2011
9-1-1, commentary kidnapper shot by police, police shooting, tulare police shooting 1 Comment
Photo: Ron Holman/Visalia Times Delta
One of the many interesting aspects about my job is that I get to experience things most people never will. For instance, my tangential role in yesterday’s kidnapping and police shooting event. Beginning in Porterville, a male subject kidnapped a woman and drove away with her. We got a BOL (Be On the Lookout broadcast) from Porterville Police Department not long after the initial kidnapping. I was working our channel 2, which is the north end of the county. Since we didn’t know where the suspect might be going, I broadcast the details, which included the vehicle description, it’s license plate, the names of the suspect and victim, and that the suspect was armed. That’s usually the end of it, as it’s rare for patrol units to simply run across the subject of a BOL (although it DOES happen).
Through technological means, a possible location of the suspect was traced to Tulare. Tulare PD located the vehicle, and at some point attempted to make contact with the suspect. In the following moments, Tulare PD officers were forced to open fire, killing the suspect.
Although the initial call of 1199, officer needs help, was dramatic enough in itself, the most amazing moment was later that night, when we got to hear a recording of the “shots fired!” transmissions from the police units. While they were still firing.
It’s always darkest before the dawn… and the coldest just after!
December 23, 2011
9-1-1, commentary, geek, Personal california winters, frosted windshield, overtime, winter solstice Leave a comment
7am in California
Trying to head home after a 14 hour shift.
I’m ready for summer, please.
It’s not all Adam-12
November 27, 2011
9-1-1, commentary, Pictures Rubicon Jeep, Search and Rescue, TCSO 4 Wheeler, Tulare County Sheriff's Department 1 Comment
When half of your jurisdiction is mountains, you need the right equipment!
Used in parades and other events, it’s also used in actual responses in the mountains, for search and rescue.
Albert Didn’t Visit Us Last Night
November 22, 2011
9-1-1, commentary, Humor, Personal dispatcher stories, life in dispatch, literal answers Leave a comment
The Duty Officer has many responsibilities to tend to during his or her shift in dispatch. One of those duties is answering the intercoms posted at various doors to the building. Several times a night, the buzzer at one or the other of the doors will sound, with someone needing help. Almost without fail, they are looking for the jail. Posting signs at either intercom, indicating that each particular door is NOT the jail, and pointing out where one needs to go to find the jail, rarely produces the desired result. They still buzz, and are still looking for the jail. Last night, we had one that had me laughing harder than I have for a long time.
“BUUUZZZZZZ” (they love to hold down that call button)
Duty officer: “Can I help you?”
Gentlemen at the intercom: “Yes”.
…
…
JimmieJoe / KC6YRU 
National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week April 8-14, 2012
April 13, 2012
Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary, Personal 9-1-1, 911, dispatcher, dispatcher stories, emergency services, National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week Leave a comment
Loveland (Colo.) Police Department
Someone once asked me if I thought that answering telephones for a living was a profession. I said, “I thought it was a calling.”
And so is dispatching. I have found in my law enforcement career that dispatchers are the unsung heroes of public safety. They miss the excitement of riding in a speeding car with lights flashing and sirens wailing. They can only hear of the bright orange flames leaping from a burning building. They do not get to see the joy on the face of worried parents as they see their child begin breathing on its own, after it has been given CPR.
Dispatchers sit in darkened rooms looking at computer screens and talking to voices from faces they never see. It’s like reading a lot of books, but only half of each one.
Dispatchers connect the anxious conversations of terrified victims, angry informants, suicidal citizens and grouchy officers. They are the calming influence of all of them-the quiet, competent voices in the night that provide the pillars for the bridges of sanity and safety. They are expected to gather information from highly agitated people who can’t remember where they live, what their name is, or what they just saw. And then, they are to calmly provide all that information to the officers, firefighters, or paramedics without error the first time and every time.
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