Mondays Mondays Mondays

[liralen]

I've been going into 911 on Mondays for more than seven years, now. I have been staying constant with that, no matter what, even when my left hand hurt when I touched a keyboard, I'd go in an do nearly everything with my right hand. 

To detail more of what I do... there are eight phone lines into Dispatch. There is one police coordination radio channel, a data radio channel for confidential records information, half a dozen tactical channels along with the SWAT channel, and two fire coordination channels (only one of which is usually used unless someone has to set up a command center for a big fire or, of course, our 2013 flood). Most of those aren't running most of the time, but the capacity is there for when a disaster hits and then all the lines can be going at the same time. And all of them are recorded whenever they're used. My job starts when an officer, the court, a prosecuting attorney, a PI, or a private individual asks for our records about a specific incident, I winnow through all the records for anything that pertains to that incident.

I tag them all, collect them into an audio file and it used to be that I burned a CD, but finally, this year, they went all digital and now I can just throw that file into the court records for that case and they get to whomever needs them. 

I love the job. In part because I get to help put into place a little tiny piece of what goes for justice on an everyday basis. I get to help prosecute everything from domestic violence cases to murders to shoplifting. The other part of it is that the dispatchers are a very interesting bunch of people. Who else would want to interact with people, constantly, on the very worst day of their lives and talk them through the few things that can help save them? And I get to see on an ongoing basis the kinds of people who, when shots ring out or a fire starts, run toward the danger, not away? 

I also love that I have control over lot of small aspects of the job, things that I can do to streamline and simplify and ease how I search, how I save things, how I shape the single machine that can get me the records I need into what I need and want to make it easy on me. And the dispatchers all hate hearing themselves and having to do the records, so they're all very thankful when I do it.

But nothing, ever, will top the time I was sitting there, listening to my channels in the midst of Dispatch and I hear one of the lady dispatchers say, deadpan, "No, sir. You cannot just shoot him."

I swear now that the Mom Voice is Omnipotent. 

When COVID started ramping up in March, I called in to tell them that I wasn't going to come in, and they thanked me. They were telling all of their dispatchers to self-isolate, if at all possible, and at work they would still be in the open seating arrangements, but the stations are so big, they've always been a good eight to ten feet apart. The air flow was increased and huge air cleaners were put in, and no one wore masks in dispatch because communication was super important when lives are at stake. They basically treated the dispatch center as one family unit, which meant that at home they mostly did their best to isolate themselves from the rest of the world. A hard choice, but it kept everyone healthy. 

It's why when the media gets all outraged at a police chief mandating no masks in his department, I suspect that they're not telling the whole story. Mis-communication kills people when they're running toward a bullet or having to teach CPR on the fly...

In July, the numbers were down far enough, they emailed me to ask me if I wanted to come back in, so I did. No one in dispatch had come down with COVID, and on top of that, no one in our police force or firefighting corps did either. Safety and Justice implemented the masks and distancing orders early, and everyone took their temperature before entering the building. Tests were readily available to everyone. And I was really happy working with them again. 

Just before Thanksgiving, though, with the numbers going back up again, I asked to be excused for a while again, at least until the numbers are down. They didn't ask me to go this time, and I believe they have enough of a handle on it that it would be safe for me, but...

I am simply acting through an abundance of caution for now, and with the vaccines coming on-line soon, I'd rather be cautious now and have years of going back to do what I love rather than doing it now and risking dying and never getting to do it again.

Comments

[rraven]

Now I'm wondering if you have a mom voice. I've known you long enough that it's a bit hard for me to imagine.

Thanks for doing this work. Here's hoping that you'll have a chance to get back to it soonish.

[liralen]

*laughs*

I actually developed my Mom voice for Fezzik. When he was a puppy he would really stop when I used a particular tone of voice when he was doing something I wasn't happy with. Otherwise he'd just glance at me and keep going. So Fezzik was really the cause of it.

Jet doesn't get the Mom voice nearly at all, anymore. Anger never really helped me with raising a child, and I learned just not to do that.

In crowd situations I've found that I can bring my Mom voice out and it works surprisingly well, and the funniest situation I last used it in was with my gamer group. These are mostly young men, some in their early to mid 20's, and they were doing something, I forgot what it even was, and I used my Mom Voice and they stopped. Immediately. And sounded sheepish after. That was... good and amusing too.

[liralen]

And, yes, I hope I can go back sooner rather than later. I'll need to see what the post-Thanksgiving numbers look like before I can make a call on whether or not to get in before Christmas... they are appreciative of when I come in on Holidays that they have to work. I like bringing cookies or brownies or other treats (the walnut baklava using my honey was a hit).

[flemmings]

Sounds like your 911 outfit is really on the ball. I do like it when professionals are professional, because there's so many times they aren't.

Now I wonder how you acquire a Mom voice. I have a playground voice that I use, or used to use, in semi-emergencies, as when one toddler is going fangs-out for another, but that's the only time I can actually project my voice at all. Is it a matter of volume or of tone?

[liralen]

So true. Not all outfits are run sometimes in even similar ways. Ours had a bad run in 20 years ago with racial problems in the force, so it got Aware Quickly back then. Hiring policies, training, etc. have been very community-focused, and I will talk later about the alternative justice system that the police force has now gotten the option to hand their cases to instead of the court system. We do a lot of work to maintain a police force that matches our community mix and who understand they're not an authority, they're just a way for the community to help those who can't regulate themselves.

I think your playground voice is definitely an early version of it, it evolves, I think, with the age of the child and is very different once they've reached their teens. I think it's more tone than volume, loud doesn't necessarily mean that someone will truly listen. And mine gets quiet, which is when the gamers (okay, and my son) start getting nervous. And the dispatcher talking that gentleman out of shooting a raccoon in his garbage cans did not use a particularly loud tone. Sometimes I think there's a "You cannot be thinking of doing *that*." tone to it that stops most in their tracks.

It's interesting to think about.

[flemmings]

Oh, a raccoon. I was thinking something more serious. Though I suppose a Mom voice isn't whst you'd go for in a homicidal case.

That's neat about your outfit actually doing something about the racial problem and not just doubling down. And an alternative justice system sounds excellent. I know from my s-i-l the criminal lawyer that our court system is a blind monster that chews people up and spits them out. She said half her clientele were repeats, sometimes on their third or fourth go-around.

[liralen]

Yeah. The Longmont Community Justice Partnership (https://www.lcjp.org/) works with the police and allows them to divert those cases to restorative justice. We have a less than 10% recidivism rate in the program, and the officers are relieved to be able to divert cases where people take responsibility for their actions to our system rather than the blind court system that has to run things by the laws as they were written for worst case scenarios.

"Justice doesn't always have to be blind..." is one of our quotes. *laughs quietly*

But the goals include having responsible parties heal the social wounds they make with their support, with their parents, their friends, and recover relationships that are important for getting them back as part of the community rather than ostracizing them and making it impossible for them to live normal lives again.

[flemmings]

This is the place you and John volunteer at? It sounds difficult but very worthwhile.

[liralen]

Yes!! To all the above.

[liralen]

There was one case where a girl was attacked by a woman with a knife, who cut the girl very very badly across her entire abdomen, and the dispatcher who got her on the phone held her with her voice until the police could get there. Hung onto her forcibly with all the sweet persuasion of hope there could be in a human voice on a tenuous electric line. It was... I still cry when I think of it. Mom voice in a different tenor, I guess, that comfort of a child being cradled close.

And cried even more than night, after I heard the incident, when the police officer who responded to the call talked on the news about being so afraid of not being able to find her, after hearing her voice being so weak with the dispatcher... and how he cried on recounting finally finding her all curled up on herself.

A different officer, on hearing of what I did, was like. "Huh... subjecting yourself to second hand trauma, huh?"

"Uh... yeah, I guess so," I answered.

He laughed and shook his head, "Thank you for doing that for us."

"You're very welcome," I said.

[flemmings]

Oh dear. I'm crying too at that story.