Top Questions We're Asked #2

We receive lots of questions during a year, by telephone, fax, e-mail and in person. Many of the answers end up on specific pages of our Web site, under a specific category. But sometimes the questions-answers just don't fit into a well-defined slot. So, we compiled a list of the most common questions and their answers and posted them right here.

Q. I am looking for written statistical information on how many radio frequencies one dispatcher can handle/respond to effectively? Do you know where I might this information?

A. There's really no such formula, because there are so many factors involved, including the skill of the radio dispatcher. However, there are some considerations that might help you zero in on a rough figure:

  • Rate the channel activity. You could handle 7 lightly-used volunteer fire channels much easier than two heavily-used law enforcement channels.

  • Rate the priority of each channel. Missing a transmission on a animal control channel might be more acceptable than missing one on a fire or law enforcement channel.

  • Determine what other tasks the monitoring dispatcher is responsible for: phones, writing, typing, front counter, etc. that are un-related to the radio traffic. This might also include required interactions with other dispatchers to get work accomplished.

  • Consider the training and experience of the persons assigned to the channels. A veteran, well-trained dispatcher might work more channels than a less veteran, less trained person.

  • Consider work schedules, staffing and breaks. If you have to do heavy monitoring for six hours at a time, on 12-hour shifts, you're in for some pretty heavy stress. But if you're full-staffed, working 8-hour shifts, and allowed 15-minute breaks every 4 hours, you might be able to handle a higher workload.

  • If you add this all up (this is beyond algebra!), you'll end up with a "reliability" or "performance" index, from one to 10. At "1", you're making mistakes, missing transmissions all the time, and under great stress (which may be increased sick leave or disability). At "10 " you're hearing everything that's broadcast, making no errors, and actually feeling in good health at the end of every shift. Armed with this rating, you can have management decide if a "3" or an "8" or whatever is acceptable. My guess is, given the liability for mistakes or employee stress, management would want to pick a combination that gives a rating of "7" or above.

Q. We're receiving more incomplete calls than ever before, both from wired and wireless phones. What's the policy for handling such calls?

A. An excellent question, and one that both depends upon legal, practical and technical considerations. It mainly depends upon how your telephone equipment is arranged--if calls ring in directly, you won't be able to track or call back dropped calls. If you have an automatic call distributor (ACD) or other gear for pre-answering calls, you may be able to capture the ANI of callers even if they decide to hang up, and then call them back.

All this results in several possible scenarios. However, the number of situations breaks down like this:

  • phone number known: call back the phone number

  • if a person answers, determine if they have a dispatchable incident

  • if the caller indicates an emergency, if the caller is ambiguous, or the dispatcher feels it necessary, dispatch units

  • if the caller clearly explains the call was an accident, do not dispatch units

  • if no one answers a wired phone, dispatch units to the address of the caller
  • if no one answer a wireless phone: 1) take no action, or 2) call wireless carrier to determine home address of caller, dispatch units to caller's home
  • if the number is busy, have the call interrupted by the telephone company operator
  • phone number not known: no action

Some large agencies assign a single call-taker as the "call back" person, and they are constantly retrieving phone numbers from the ACD, calling the numbers back, and asking whoever answers if they have an emergency. As you can imagine, this task could be a full-time job, especially given busy signals on callback, and the options for handling wireless phones that don't answer. Smaller agencies would have to interleave callbacks with their other duties.

In any case, your policy and procedure should be a balance of common sense, public safety and workload. It should clearly spell out the various situations and required dispatcher actions. Once you establish a reasonable policy, make sure everyone is following it to the letter. All this will help you catch real emergencies and keep you out of legal trouble.

Q. I'm looking for training videos about TTY devices...

A. Here are some resources:

Q. Where can I buy my own 911 training phone?

A. You're talking about one of those portable phone systems that simulate a 911 call for training, right? Well, you might start with State Farm Insurance, who funds the purchase of these systems for training citizens. This would save you the cost of buying it yourself. Start with a local agent for State Farm--we don't have a national contact for the program. If you'd like to purchase directly:

  • Retina Systems, a company that markets laser inspection and vision systems, but slid into the 911 simulator market in any interesting way.

  • Colcom Inc., which makes two different models of simulator. They're in Austin (Tex.) at (512) 244-6689 or (512) 310-2733

  • The Telephone Pioneers of America offers a 911 call simulator for citizen training purposes.

  • Professional Pride offers the StarZ II Training Simulator for dispatcher training, both calltakers and radio dispatchers. Their Web site includes a video demonstration.

  • The Board Room Inc. markets 911TeleTrainer, which is designed for education young children on the proper uses of 911.

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Q. What Web sites offer reverse phone look-ups...you know, obtain the address from the phone number?

A. Here are several that we've bumped into along the way:

Q. I've heard of a famous 9-1-1 call from a man reporting that he struck and deer, and then was bitten by the animal after he put it in the car. Can you tell me if it's true, and where to find the call?

A. Ah, you've no doubt heard about the legendary "The deer, the dog and the 'bamulance" story. This two-minute tape was played almost constantly by radio disjockeys around the country in the 1980s. It faded away and then returned in the late 1990s. Personally, I always thought it was a fake, but it took Randall Larson, editor of "9-1-1 Magazine" to actually track down the source of the recording--it was a put-on call made by a CAD software employee to cheer up a dispatcher who was suffering under a newly-installed CAD program. Anyway, you can read all the details on the magazine's Web site, and even hear audio of the call.

Q. I've applied at a police department that has a residency requirement...is such a thing legal?

A. It's not unusual for such requirements among law enforcement officers and firefighters, but they're not common among public safety dispatchers. However, it's easy to see that a city or county might consider dispatchers "essential personnel" in times of an emergency.

The issue of such a requirement has been hashed out rather thoroughly among employee unions, cities and counties, and the state courts--it's basically a state-level issue. The gist of the courts' opinions is that it is a legally defensible requirement if the city does it for a genuine public safety purpose. That is, the city or county wants their public safety personnel to be readily available for an emergency response. The requirement not only extends to "within the city limits," but also to an expressed driving time (within 20 minutes) or a number of miles (within 18 miles) that would provide a prompt emergency response.

This very issue was generally decided by the Iowa Supreme Court back in 1992, in a case brought by the Clinton (Ia.) Police officers. The court found a "rationale relationship" between the city's ordinance requiring officers to live within 10 miles of where they report to work. The case involved an officer who wanted to live 18 miles away after she was married. In this case, the court also mentioned several other reasons for having the requirement, including employees having a stake in the community, enhancing the tax base, improving community attitudes and cooperation, increasing loyalty to the community, and reducing absenteeism. That court case isn't posted on-line, but there's a mention of it on this Web site. For those wishing to research further, it's officially: Clinton Police Dept. Bargaining Unit v. Clinton, 464 N.W.2d 875 (Iowa 1991).

Q. I want to obtain some "last dispatch" wording that one would use in the terrible event that a firefighter or officer dies in the line of duty?

A. I hope you never have to use it, but here are some words that other agencies have used on the radio--let us know if you encounter other tributes. For a reminder that the worst can happen, surf the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial site, or National Fallen Firefighters Memorial site.

This is the last alarm for #1431 Fire Fighter-Paramedic Bret Tarver , off of Engine Company 14 "C" Shift, who is now on the scene at his final resting place, 719 North 27th Avenue. Goodnight Fire Fighter Tarver. Rest in Peace Fire Department time is 14:48 Hours, KOA519." -- Phoenix (Ariz.) Fire Department

A dispatcher called the officer's number over the police radio three times. When no response came, the dispatcher declared "10-7 for eternity." -- Zephyrhills (Fla.) Police Dept.

"Attention all units. Attention all units. Be advised, final call of unit 0163, Covington Police Officer Michael A. Partin, killed in the line of duty, 4 January 1998 at 0231 hours. May he rest in peace." -- radio call by Covington (Ken.) police dispatcher Jenny Douglas

Q. In the post-Sept. 11th world, what resources do you have for bomb threats?

A. First of all, you should visit our "Anthrax" page for some tips on handling suspicious letters and packages. We've also assembled some more sensitive information about handling handling suspicious objects, and about weapons of mass destruction (WMD).--send us an agency e-mail address for the Web page and password.

The Institute of Police Technology & Management (IPTM) in Florida has published an excellent book on the subject of bomb threats: why and how they occur, steps to take. It's $39.95 +$4 shipping and can be ordered on-line. You can find an on-line review and on-line excerpt at these sites.

Lastly, there are many Web sites that have bomb threat call-handling advice, including: British Telecom, the State of Delaware, this private security site, the U.S. Department of State (great guidelines, but scary!), Los Angeles Police Department, and school-oriented advice from the State of Vermont.

Q. My agency wants to implement new unit IDs...what do you suggest?

A. There are several considerations: compatibility with CAD software, integration with surrounding agencies, and just plan usability. First, the method must fit with your CAD software--are unit IDs limited in length or require letters/numbers only? Second, will the ID scheme differentiate your agency's units from other agencies if there's mutual aid? Lastly, will the IDs be easy to type into CAD and speak on the radio, and readily identify the agency and type of unit? After the huge urban firestorm in 1991, Alameda County (Calif.) fire agencies adopted a unit ID scheme as follows:

XXYZ

In this case, XX is the agency number (10 to 99), Y is the unit type (2=chief/admin, 4=engine, 5=ladder truck, 9=ambulance, etc.), and Z=individual unit number. For example, unit 2242 is Albany's #2 engine company, while 2455 is Oakland's #5 ladder truck. For CAD compatibility, some agencies had to add a single letter to the unit IDs to satisfy a CAD requirement that unit IDs consist of at least one letter (no all-number IDs). For example, B2242.

This method works well, and means there won't be any duplicate unit IDs during county-wide mutual aid. The agency is easy to understand, and any chief would realize that "2242" is an engine company, even if he never worked with agency "26--" before. The method can also be adapted to larger geographic areas, to help identify units from more than one county who respond to mutual aid units. We've even heard of state-wide numbering schemes.

Toronto (Canada) has 80 fire stations with lots of apparatus, and uses an interesting method of keeping everything straight. They have four Commands (each handles a quadrant of the city) numbered 10, 20, 30 and 40. Each Command, in turn, has four District Chiefs numbered 1x, 2x, 3x and 4x. For example, Command 10 has DCs 11, 12, 13 and 14, while Command 30 would have DCs 31, 32, 33 and 34.

Each District Chief has four stations under his/her command, numbered with an additional digit as the DC. For example, Command 10, District Chief 13 would manage stations 131, 132, 133 and 134.

Now to the actual apparatus: rigs are ID'd by the type of rig (pumpers, aerials, squads, rescue, tower, hazard, decon, air-light etc.), and by their station number. For example, Pumper 211 is the pumper/engine from station 211, while Tower 132 is the ladder truck from station 132. The rig officer is ID'd on the radio as "Tower 132 captain, and others are referred to as "Tower 132 crew one" or "Tower 132 crew two." What if a station has more than one of a certain apparatus type? Then a "B" or "C" is appended to the rig designation. For example, "Tower 132 Bravo" would be the second ladder truck assigned to station 132.

Q. Is there such a thing as Web-based, on-line access to NCIC?

A. Yes, there certainly is access on the World Wide Web to the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC)--but not directly. First, the Web address www.ncic.gov just isn't assigned at all. Second, you already realize that NCIC is the last link on the chain: it's accessed by the 50 state Department's of Justice, through the state criminal justice computer systems. In turn, the state systems are often accessed by county-level CJ systems.

In any event, Wisconsin has a program that allows pre-approved persons to access their state CJ system from the Web, which then allows searches through NCIC. Feel free to poke around their pages...there's really nothing accessible unless you're authorized. We've also seen the Kansas Criminal Justice Information System (KCJIS) that allows direct access to the state's CJ system (with proper authorization), but also citizen access to registered sex offender searches, missing persons, and the state's Most Wanted.

Q. What procedures do you recommend for handling citizens following--or chasing--someone in their car, either for a criminal offense or traffic violation?

A. First, you have to decide how you really want citizens to act in either of these cases. My suggestion would be to completely rule out following, chasing, pursuing or otherwise taking action for any traffic violation, including DUI. The dispatcher should obtain whatever information the caller may have (CYMBL, etc.), occupants' description and direction of last travel. But after that, they should be told not to follow the vehicle or take any additional action. Now, you have a choice on what advice to give a caller reporting a criminal act, and you may wish to sub-divide that into advice for violent and non-violent criminal acts. My suggestion is "wave off" the citizen for non-violent criminal offenses. For violent offenses, you should devise an "advisory" for the calltaker to give the citizen, essentially advising them of the danger, and telling them, "If you chose to continue...." Michigan's Emergency Telephone Service Committee has posted its recommended procedure for just such incidents, and includes a suggested advisory notice to callers--check it out.

Q. Can I broadcast criminal history information on the radio?

A. Yes and no. State laws generally prohibit the release of criminal history information to authorized law enforcement personnel who have a specified "need to know." Federal laws similarly limit the release of NCIC information. You would have to check your state's laws for a specific exemption for broadcasting CH data on the radio. As for NCIC rules, they permit broadcasting CH data (via voice or mobile data), "when an officer determines there is an immediate need for this information to further an investigation or there is a situation affecting the safety of an officer or general public." Your state regulations may make a similar exemption.

Q. My comm center will soon be required to collect statistics on the race, sex, age of drivers they stop for any reason, in order to combat racial profiling. What resources are available for me?

A. Here are several on-line resources you can surf and download:

  • The previously-definitive guide for all racial profiling projects--data collection, analysis, etc.--is from the NCJRS in Acrobat (pdf) format (725k).

  • The DOJ also published an unrelated report in 1999 on officer contacts with the police. The interesting part is that, while agency vehicle stop stats were skewed towards people of color, most drivers told the survey-takers that the police had a legitimate reason for pulling them over: 85% of whites, 74% of African-American and 82% of Hispanic drivers.

  • The standards group CALEA has published a standard on collecting racial profiling data. It doesn't spell out any specifics, but the generalities of being able to collect the data.

  • The DOJ's COPS program has published an absolutely definitive, 158-page guide to collecting and analyzing data related to racial profiling. Download an Acrobat (pdf, 492k) version of the guide at their Web site.

Q. Where can I subscribe to a language translation service?

A. The best-known service is Language Line Services based in Monterey (Calif.). They have 15 to 20 translators on-duty at their headquarters to cover the most common languages, but also maintain a staff of 2,000 translators around the country who can be instantly linked to you by phone. They have yearly and per-call payment plans. Check their Web site for more information. By the way, the service was started by a San Jose (Calif.) police officer in the 1980s, and then purchased by AT&T, who sold it to another company in 1999.

Q. Who sells call processing guides for public safety calltakers?

A. There are two companies that market flip-type cards to assist calltakers in handling telephone calls for law enforcement, fire and EMS situations: PowerPhone and the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch. The cards present basic law enforcement, fire and medical situations, and then a list of questions the calltaker should ask the caller in order to obtain the needed information from the caller. Both companies also offer extensive training and certification in the use of the cards and protocols. In addition, the state of New Jersey has created a set of guide cards for EMD, which they've posted on-line in Acrobat, (pdf, 1.6 Mb, 56 pages) format, or as individual files. Also see the next answer...

Q. Who offers flip cards for natural disasters, such as floods, hail, blizzards?

A. The city of Fort Collins (Colo.), after experiencing more than their share of such things (particularly a flood), has generously posted a nicely-designed set of flip cards to be used by calltakers in advising the public how to behave prior to and during a blizzard, flood, hail storm, lightning or tornado. You can download the cards, print them out, cut them up and start using them immediately! Also check the previous answer...

Q. When you hear police radio traffic in a movie or TV show, is it real of fake?

A. We can't vouch for every movie or TV show, but we know several are real dispatcher voices:

  • The opening female voice in the TV show "Adam 12" was now-retired LAPD Radiotelephone Operator (RTO) Shaaron Claridge, but done in a studio.

  • The opening voice on the "Cops" TV show is a dispatcher from the Portland (Ore.) Bureau of Emergency Communications--we don't know her name.

  • The 1984 movie "Police Academy" radio traffic of "4-Mary-151, no wants on your suspect..." is former LAPD dispatcher Harry Marnell. The radio chatter originally appeared in the 1973-1974 seasons of the TV show "Police Story," who also hired two female LAPD dispatchers to make other recordings.

  • The radio voice on the TV show "Emergency" belonged to Sam Lanier, a Los Angeles County Fire Department Dispatcher who served 19 years, and whose voice appeared in all six seasons of the TV show.

Q. Can I tour the Walt Disney World fire department comm center in Orlando?

A. Absolutely, yes. Just contact the Reedy Creek Improvement District Fire Department (aka WDW) at (407) 560-1977.

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