12 hour shifts are an occupational hazard. I am an emergency services dispatcher for a small county in Missouri. For the sake of my job security and anonymity - the county and all details shall remain undisclosed.
Today was a fun one, my friends. It's been a stupid week already, but today took the cake. Had my first medical that resulted in a death, after CPR and first aid goodies applied. Nothing prepares you for the adrenaline rush, and the sudden let down. All said, I handle stress better than I have any right to - I dealt with it like a champ.
Putting along, it was a traffic stop kind of day, and beings the trainer on my rotation was out today, the trainee couldn't do anything productive sitting next to me, so I fielded everything myself. It's not the end of the world, but 12 hours of taking every. single. call. It gets old. Or it did today.
I work with the kind of officers that do this super annoying thing where if someone else does something, they run traffic all of a sudden. Sometimes I'd just like to lock the comms and go rush only for practically all incidents. Tonight was no different. I get some muni blues in a hide-and-seek with an intoxicated subject, driving all around town with her good natured friends in pursuit, while I try and translate directions via radio. Finally stop the vehicle, and start field sobriety, and another muni has to go and arrest someone. AND another has to preform a traffic stop. So here it is, I'm at 12 hours + change trying to get CAD entries caught up, radio traffic jotted down for my partner, and closed down for the end of tour.
And then comes the meteor. or Suicidal subject. Out in the boonies. AND the caller had no idea what the address is. It's kind of fun playing detective, and running down the map as she gives directions. Found the place, get blues enroute, start staging medics, and then they finally kicked me out and made me go home.
It's a crazy life, it's a stressful life, it's a busy life, but it's the only life I can imagine.
Support your local 911 dispatchers, send me a mod
Today was a fun one, my friends. It's been a stupid week already, but today took the cake. Had my first medical that resulted in a death, after CPR and first aid goodies applied. Nothing prepares you for the adrenaline rush, and the sudden let down. All said, I handle stress better than I have any right to - I dealt with it like a champ.
Putting along, it was a traffic stop kind of day, and beings the trainer on my rotation was out today, the trainee couldn't do anything productive sitting next to me, so I fielded everything myself. It's not the end of the world, but 12 hours of taking every. single. call. It gets old. Or it did today.
I work with the kind of officers that do this super annoying thing where if someone else does something, they run traffic all of a sudden. Sometimes I'd just like to lock the comms and go rush only for practically all incidents. Tonight was no different. I get some muni blues in a hide-and-seek with an intoxicated subject, driving all around town with her good natured friends in pursuit, while I try and translate directions via radio. Finally stop the vehicle, and start field sobriety, and another muni has to go and arrest someone. AND another has to preform a traffic stop. So here it is, I'm at 12 hours + change trying to get CAD entries caught up, radio traffic jotted down for my partner, and closed down for the end of tour.
And then comes the meteor. or Suicidal subject. Out in the boonies. AND the caller had no idea what the address is. It's kind of fun playing detective, and running down the map as she gives directions. Found the place, get blues enroute, start staging medics, and then they finally kicked me out and made me go home.
It's a crazy life, it's a stressful life, it's a busy life, but it's the only life I can imagine.
Support your local 911 dispatchers, send me a mod
