Elegy For A Dispatch Center

Friday, May 14, 2010 at 11:16pm

Sunday will be a sad day for me and for several of my friends and colleagues. Sunday is the end of an era.

The Placer County Sheriff’s station in Tahoe City was built in 1959. It needed to be operational for the upcoming 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley. The station had it’s own jail and dispatch office.

The dispatch center will broadcast its final transmission at 5:00 pm on Sunday, May 16. The center will be closed due to consolidation. Most of the equipment will be removed and the center will be used for the new sergeant’s office.

In August of 1997 I left a world I knew for the unknown. I prepared for my departure from theater for almost 2 years, but when the time came I was sad and scared. I was also hoping the adventure I was about to embark upon would be a rewarding experience.

I was a stagehand for 15 years and for 12 of those years I worked at a place called the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. Having to leave La Mirada had similar characteristics of having to leave Placer in August 2009, also a 12-year stretch. I left reluctantly and the circumstances surrounding my departure were thrust upon me providing me no other option. I am beginning to think twelve is my unlucky number.

I tried to leave Placer once in February of 2003 but couldn’t stay away very long. I missed law enforcement dispatch and my PCSO family.

Over the years we’ve had our disagreements and low points. Overall my experience was positive and the environment allowed me to thrive and be creative. I had the best boss I have ever had the pleasure to work with when I arrived and so far no one has topped her.

There were some scary and sad moments:

My first foot pursuit as one of my deputy’s chased a wanted man into Griff Creek; The night I ran downstairs to help the jailer perform CPR on a man that decided to take his own life; My first officer down call at that trailer park in Tahoe Vista; My only officer involved shooting that happened in a neighboring county involving one of my deputies; The two-week-old baby that was mauled to death by the family dog; The fire on the West Shore that taxed all of our resources; Talking to people that came home or woke up to find their loved ones deceased.

There were rewarding moments:

Training a new dispatcher and watching him or her succeed; The rare occasion when a caller calls me back to say thank you for helping them; Doing public presentations on 9-1-1; Being assigned to the Tactical Dispatch Team; Finding that one piece of information that no else could find that makes a difference in an investigation; Getting to hear about how a call I worked on finally turned out.

There are so many moments.

We worked together even when we were angry at each other. We helped each other when we were sick or hurt. We demonstrated empathy and compassion when one of us was going through a rough patch, like when my father died. We made sure our community could count on us when we couldn’t even get home because of adverse weather conditions. We made sure each of us got plenty of rest, went out and bought food for each other when no one else could. We watched each others kids grow up (I don’t have any) and babysat them.

We didn’t always get along, but I know we all cared for each other. We were a team.

If I had to do it over again I wouldn’t hesitate. These memories will be with me the rest of my days.

I plan to be there to celebrate our achievements and drown our sorrows. I am proud to be associated with all of you.

I will miss you.