Dispatchers–More Than “Operators”

An article in the Albany (Geo.) Herald newspaper paints a mixed image of the city’s public safety dispatchers, headlining that they’re “more than switchboard operators,” but claiming they have no control over response times. The story explains the process of incoming calls, answering and unit dispatch, assuring readers that help really is on the way quickly. But as for caller gripes about long response times, Emergency Management Agency director James Carswell said, “The dispatchers really have no control” over that. Instead, he explained, “Our calls come in and are prioritized by a computer system so that the most violent and dangerous calls go out first.” Read the rest of the article here.