25 years, 3 weeks, 12 hours. 9-1-1 and done.

August 18, 2019

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

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August 2, 2019. After 25 years, 3 weeks, and 12 hours, I’m officially retired. Here’s a look back at some of what I saw.

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Sheriff Boudreaux with the TCSO 9-1-1 Dispatch crew

November 14, 2016

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

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Hey, that’s us! That’s me, up there in the back row on the left, in glasses. On Monday, Nov. 7, 2016, we had an “all hands on deck” staff meeting.  Dispatch, along with Records, IT, and the Business office staff were on hand for a yearly confab with Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux.   We spent an informative hour with the Sheriff, as he brought us up to speed on the many projects in the works at the department.  He also took some questions, and we didn’t hold back.  It was a good meeting, with everyone looking forward to the future and the plans for the next few years.

These are the folks that handle 9-1-1 and non-emergency calls into our dispatch center. We handle calls for the Sheriff’s Office, Farmersville, Exeter, Woodlake, and Lindsay Police Departments. From missing children to shootings, this is the group that takes it all in stride, and gets help going.

It’s a great group of people, and I’ve enjoyed the 22 years I’ve been there.  I’m going to be there for a while yet, and I don’t know of any other place I’d rather work.  Well, like I’ve said before, NASA, but they don’t seem the least bit interested. Alas.

Image: Tulare County Sheriff’s Office, Facebook

 

 

July 5, 1994 – Communications Operator I

July 5, 2014

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary, Personal , , , , , , 1 Comment

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I walked into the building at 7am, July 5, 1994, for the first time as an employee.  Communications Operator I.  Three months of training lay ahead, and a year’s worth of probation.  The place was the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department, the room was in the basement, in a space originally designed to be a gymnasium / weight lifting room.  As of today, I’ve put in 20 years in that cramped space.

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Workin’ the OT

October 4, 2013

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, geek, Personal , , , , 1 Comment

10-4-2013 Tulare County Sheriff’s Dispatch, Channel 1, south end of Tulare County.

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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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Eviction done, but will he stay away?

December 6, 2012

Jim Reeves commentary, Personal , , 4 Comments

SheriffBadgeGenericThe Deputies from the civil division were here today, and served the final eviction.  They arrived about 3:30pm, and by 4pm he was out the door and down the street.  I fully expected to see him back before very long, and sure enough, by 6:15pm there he was.

It appears he went to the nearest store and bought some beer, because he was very much more drunk when he came back than when he left.  He tried for a good ten minutes to get his key to work in the lock, but that wasn’t happening, since I changed the lock immediately after he left.  He plopped down in a chair on the porch and just sat there.  I had told him as soon as he started messing with the lock that I had called the police, but that didn’t seem to impress upon him at all.

The Visalia Police arrived within a few minutes of my call, and were confronted with a drunk, uncooperative mess.

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Some work codes

September 17, 2012

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary , , , 10 Comments

SheriffBadgeGenericA lot of people like listening to the scanner, and keeping an ear on the happenings in their area.  Whether they listen to local police, sheriff, fire departments, ambulances, or other emergency services, often times it can be challenging to understand what is going on.  Codes and abbreviations can obscure the meanings of various transmissions, making the action difficult to follow.  I’ve compiled a short list of the most common codes used at my agency, and if you listen, you’ll definitely hear me use them.  I usually put up a notice on Facebook which channel I’m working, so if you ‘friend’ me there, you’ll know when I’m on, and on which channel.

Here’s the lowdown on channels you can monitor from the Internet:

Channel 1 – Primary south county channel.  This covers county areas around Lindsay, Strathmore, Porterville, Lake Success, the mountain areas including Springville, Camp Nelson, Ponderosa, Johnsondale, the Kern River area, California Hot Springs, Posey, and Kennedy Meadows.  Back on the valley floor, Terra Bella, Ducor, Richgrove, Earlimart, Teviston, Pixley, Tipton, Alpaugh, Allensworth, and the southwest part of Tulare county near Corcoran and Delano.

Channel 2 – Primary north county channel.  Coverage is Tulare, Visalia, Goshen, New London, Traver, Kingsburg, Dinuba, Delft Colony, Sultana, Yettem, Cutler-Orosi, Ivanhoe, Woodlake, Farmersville, Exeter, Lemon Cove, Lindcove, Kaweah Lake, Three Rivers, and mountain areas north of approximately Avenue 232.

You can monitor Channel one here.
Monitor channel two here.

You can also listen on your smart phones, on various scanner apps.  I use 5-0 Radio, and Scanner 911 on my iPhone.

After the jump, you’ll find the codes we use the most frequently.

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At work 2/17/12

February 17, 2012

Jim Reeves 9-1-1, Personal , , 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.

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Another Night in Paradise

April 29, 2011

Jim Reeves Personal , , Leave a comment

It’s Friday night, back at it.

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