A 12-minute segment of the "20-20" news magazine focused on the operation of the nation's public safety comm centers, in particular the handling of calls made on 911. Reaction to the show has been immediate and extraordinary, including on-line comments by Interneters and a statement by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO). We've collected some of this information for your review, including feedback from some Internet e-mail groups.
You can order a transcript of ABC's "20-20" news program that ran on March 24, 1999.
South Daytona, March 25, 1999---The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials, Inc,. (APCO), the world's oldest and largest organization serving the Public Safety Communications field, today condemned a news segment on 9-1-1 dispatchers that aired Wednesday night on ABC's 20/20 television program. Jack Keating, president of the 13,000 member association, said, "The title of the television show 20/20 suggests perfect vision. But, in the case of the news segment Wednesday night, we believe the producers of the show aired a myopic, one sided, and grossly inaccurate program designed to discredit thousands of dedicated, and hard working telecommunications professionals who save hundreds of lives every week." Keating noted that the program focused on "Rude Operators with Bad Attitudes," and portrayed 9-1-1 telecommunicators as callous and incompetent.
"The segment dwelled on several tragic and unfortunate mistakes. We do not deny that errors occur in the field of Public Safety Communications, but they are the exception to the outstanding performance of more than 250,000 professionals nationwide. In the time it took to air the 20/20 segment, dispatchers across the nation took thousands of 9-1-1 calls and helped to save many lives," Keating said.
Keating noted that the producers of 20/20 contacted APCO in producing the 9-1-1 segment. "We gave them information and we invited them to bring their cameras into an APCO Institute classroom, where we provide specialized training for dispatchers and supervisors. Even though the 20/20 camera crews visited Volusia County in Florida, they did not bother to stop at our headquarters only a few miles away. Nor did they use any of the information we gave them. We suggested to them that better training and technology can help to avoid mistakes. At APCO we train about 11,000 communications officials each year, from call takers to supervisors."
John Ramsey, executive director for APCO said, "We salute the dispatchers, supervisors, directors and technicians in Public Safety Communications who spend their careers helping people in crisis. In March, APCO launched a national public service announcement campaign designed to applaud these professionals. We run the PSAs in our magazine, Public Safety Communications/APCO Bulletin and in other selected city, state, and government magazines.
"Our first PSA featured hero of the month Paula Franklin of Maryland who helped to save an infant who nearly drowned in a bathtub. As she dispatched the ambulance, Paula instructed the mother how to perform CPR. When the ambulance arrived 3 1/2 minutes later, the baby girl was breathing and survived the accident," Ramsey said. "For April, we are saluting Missey Hammack of Tennessee. Missey took the call from a couple driving on I-4 who saw paper, plastic, and finally fingers sticking out of a hole in the taillight of the car in front of them. Missey dispatched the Knox County Sheriff's Department and stayed with the couple as they relayed critical location information. Deputies stopped the car and saved a 19-year-old woman in the trunk. The woman had been abducted by her ex-boy friend, nearly suffocated, bound, and stuffed in the car trunk.
"These are just two of many thousands of stories 20/20 could showcase," Ramsey said. "APCO is constantly trying to improve Public Safety Communications through better training, better systems, and improved technology. Both Paula and Missey had received APCO training which may have helped them do a better job. Over the years, Public Safety Communications has dramatically reduced response time. Police, fire fighters, and emergency rescue personnel arrive in many cases in a matter of minutes to help accident victims.
"At APCO, we don't look for the one out of one thousand of one percent of dispatchers who make a mistake. We look for heroes. And we find them everyday. But when we salute people like Paula and Missey, they usually tell us they didn't do anything extraordinary. They invariably tell us, 'I'm not a hero. I was just doing my job.'"
Feedback on the www.911Central.com Web site
The following e-mail flowed back and forth within the first two days following 20-20's story. It's presented here as it was e-mailed, with some misspellings and typos intact.
What a crock of crap! Actually asking an officer if operators are trained to be rude and uncooperative! Why didn't they spend more time with the operators and give them a chance to educate the public. Go for the negative 20/20 you always do. I fired off an email to them immediately. Do the same, please at www.abcnews.com and go to 20/20 email
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I agree 410%!!! I was so angry by the time the report was over that I couldn't see straight. Why do "they" always report the negative, and never the positive? Do the countless thousands of lives we've (9-1-1 operators) saved not mean anything? Evidently, the dead ones are more important than the live ones! Hang on, I'm about to really unload on 20/20 myself, and I will not be ashamed of anything I say in defense of our profession.
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Now is a good time to start. Prepare, cuz I went and emailed 20/20 shortly after seeing the "special", and I have to admit, I was still hot under the collar. I don't regret anything I said tho, and think I stood up for all of us.
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Gosh, was I surprised to see Doc Clausen grabbing more national air time. My source at ABC, a volunteer firefighter on Long Island, gave me 20/20's direct fax number, since their emails get processed automatically. The fax is (212) 456-6533 c/o Eric Neuhaus or Bob Lange, Senior Producer.
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I guess they could have waited until National Telecommunicator's Week to do the story. It's hard to get good recognition, but it seems the negative is much more exciting than the positive. As I once said before, they are TV scavengers, looking for the sensationalism rather than the real story. I guess that maybe we are a "behind the scenes agency" and anything on his will have to be "a negative" to be reported. Hopefully, each area will have something planned for National Telecommunicator's Week, and we can help balance the scales of the negatives.
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Here's the Email I sent to them ref their program: I am a retired 911 supervisor, having retired after working for 27 years. I will be the first to admit that no 911 (police/fire dispatch) system is perfect. But I truly feel that in presenting nothing but bad 911 incidents to the public you do nothing but undermine their faith in the system and create additional animosity when they deal with 911 operators. I would just once like to see a program presented showing the extra efforts that some of these people put into their job on a daily basis. How about the awards they are given for extraordinary service? Stop showing us as incompetents who can't do their jobs. How would you feel if every time you turned around somebody was spotlighting every single mistake you made and never said anything about the good things. Please try and restore some of the confidence that you have surely torn down by presenting a show highlighting the good things that 911 operators have done. Thanx for listening.
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I too watched and was extremely mad when it was over. The bad part is, I work midnights and had to go into work just fuming! I also fired off a letter to ABC express disgust. I did tape it for fellow co-workers so they too can see how 20/20 feels about our profession.
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Well, thank God I'm not the only one who was completely enraged over the report. What an irresponsible piece of trashy journalism it was! God knows how many people may hesitate to call 911 now, and what damage that hesitation may cause. Ever since I started working dispatch, I have felt that our profession was the "stepchild" of law enforcement, now I feel like an orphan.
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I think bad operators need to be reported on. And I think the reaction of good operators depends on how big the agency is you work for. If I worked for a small agency I probably would take offense by the 20/20 report too. But I work for a large agency with 130 operators on 5 shifts, and I do over hear the handling of calls similar to what was reported, daily. We live in a rude society. I pride myself on being polite at all times and as helpful to the limits of my being. I am a minority at my agency. I have been there 5 years, work 60 hrs a week and will clear $40,000 this year because of my dedication to my job. On the other hand, I have found my peers at my agency to be shallow, immature, and spew profanity like a bunch of drunken sailors. As long as agencies hire toxic people, they will get exactly what they pay for, rude, indifferent morons. I'm glad 20/20 reported on such negative preformance. The public has to know that when they call 911, it may be a crap shoot.
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If I can make a suggestion--perhaps we should all go ahead and forward the text of any 'Attaboys (or girls) that we see to 20/20. By then time they read about all the GOOD 911 operators do daily, maybe they'll just have to change their tune.
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My post is in no way meant to be confrontational. I want everyone who taped the 20/20 program, to rewatch it. Put your self in the Service Merchandise store, put your self behind the wheel as a steel spike breaks through your window and impales your daughter. Put yourself at the phone button end of 3 incomplete 911 calls as your acquaintance beats the heck out of you. The program was good reporting. Bad telecommunicators are out there. Secondly, think of this. There is an old Rock Hudson movie (that I can't think of the name) in which his character does great things for people, and always remains anonymous. His reward is self pride and has no interest in the recognition from others. We should not need a pat on the back to know and feel that we are doing our best. And I have a sad example of what such selfishness can do to people and an agency.
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Last year, one of our female police officers was shot just below her vest at a traffic stop. Her partner, another female, was chasing a subject on foot who fled the traffic stop. She heard the shot, ran back to check on her partner and called for help on her radio. The emotion in her voice made it difficult for the control operator to understand the problem. Long story short, she was understood, help did arrive, the shot officer, despite the bullet nicking an artery and almost killing her, survived and returned to the street. She in turn, nominated her partner for the nation wide "Top Cop" award. Her nomination was chosen, and her partner was our states representative at the "Top Cop" awards in Washington, DC last year. Once this was known, officers (strangely all male) came out of the wood work, and called the media, granted interviews, stating that the officer who got the award did not deserve it, and each through in their helpful roles at the scene of the shooting. It was disgraceful and disrespectful, not only for the awardee, but the shot officer who nominated her.
The point I'm trying to make is that the only pats on the back that matter are the ones that come from ourselves to ourselves. We don't need and shouldn't expect high profile recognition. When and if such recognition does come to you, the day before it and the day after it will be the same. It would be a disservice to the public for them not to know that a few of their public servants have no right to be in their positions. 20/20 did a fair job in informing you, me, and Joe public that a small percentage of 911 call takers (not dispatchers, which was well pointed out) are hateful and stupid, and should be taking pizza orders over the phone some place.
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I knew it wasn't gonna be pretty, just for that reason. I can tell from the posts that it was pretty distasteful, but another list member posted her views here, too, about the fact there ARE "bad 9-1-1 operators." This IS fact, unfortunately. 20/20 DOES do investigative reporting. I can imagine that refrigerator repairmen, auto mechanics, et al, also didn't like the way they were portrayed in "their" features.
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I have every intention of responding to 20/20 after I view the program. I recommend a level-headed approach, because it won't do US any good to flood ABC with irate messages. unless we present our views reasonably, with the very real concern about the public painting "all 9-1-1 operators" with the same brush as the one used in 20/20's "investigative" report. Again, I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know if there's any disclaimer to the effect that these may have been extreme situations handled with appropriate disciplinary action, or not. <shrugging helplessly> Trust me, I'll be letting y'all know how I feel. I just can't help it, ya know? <grin>
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I agree! I work at a Center where their is little or no training or quality control. The staffing is based on who's available not who's qualified and errors run rampant! Sometimes the only way management will correct errors if they are shamed or embarrassed into it!
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I do understand the majorities upset, however. I can only assume that those who were offended by the 20/20 piece work at a Center where the problems lie in the dispatch personnel and not management's indifference.
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"Overworked, underpaid. and it shows." That was the lead-in for the 20/20 program.
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However, folks. it wasn't that bad a report! They COULD have said these types of mis-handled incidents are few and far between (but would that be the truth, I wonder? How few and how far?) and every 9-1-1 call receives exemplary handling Watching the program objectively, I think they did a pretty good job indicating that "hiring [us] as clerks, training [us] as clerks, paying [us] as clerks. gives [the public] clerks." And the massive increase in cellular phones with the resultant increase of 9-1-1 abuse by cellular phone users is a real problem, too.
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I don't think 20/20 planned to air something that would paint all "9-1-1 operators" with a tarred brush, and I actually think they did a fairly balanced job of reporting problems with "the 9-1-1 system." They presented positive experts from within (such as Dr. Clawson and a separate panel of 9-1-1 professionals) to explain why the job itself is so difficult to do well. There was calm, reasonable information provided on how it's hard to get and keep GOOD employees in such a critical profession: low pay, insufficient training, high call load and no locations on cellular 9-1-1 calls!
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It would be really nice if they also planned and aired a segment during the week of April 11-17, showing the GREAT things we've done. for National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. But I'm not holding my breath on that one.
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Yes, I too, felt my stomach clench listening to the call-takers depicted in this program. Those bits of tape are bound to upset the public but I think the program presented a challenge to all of us:
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Prove 'em wrong. Every day, with every call, prove 'em wrong. Make the public glad WE aren't "like those people on that 20/20 show."
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With regards to the 20/20 program about 911 mistakes. If the show is controversial or has an in depth discussion on 911 emergency calls, I don't suppose there is any way of getting a copy of the program down to Australia as we don't get that program down under. The reason is that we use Australian, British and North American audio and visual tapes in the training of new police comms operatives. We use that OPRAH 911 tape for customer service lectures, etc.
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Missed 20/20, but read what I could of the transcript. I can't quite see why a caller's failure to know an address or cross street is a fireable offense on my part. I'm not a taxi driver.
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Cel phone technology must be enhanced. To blame dispatchers for technological failure is irresponsible.
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Another area that desperately needs improvement is handling of deaf callers. The phone system at my department is so bad you can't even tell if you have a TTY caller. We are no longer able to differentiate hangup calls from deaf calls. Consequently if we miss one of the (average) five a month deaf calls, operators are blamed-- the easy route for administration.
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It's fun to blame someone. Not so fun when you bleed and writhe trying desperately to help someone and you can't because they don't know where they are. And you, the dispatcher, have to take the blame. Because it is politically incorrect to say a victim didn't know something.
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My favorite comment. "They Hire them as clerks, pay them as clerks, and treat them as clerks." HOW TRUE!! I think we are a "Part" of the Emergency Services, not "Clerk's." it's not like we are Kmart or Wal*Mart employee's. We have very serious jobs. 90 % Of our center personel are hard working professionals dedicated to helping the public. It is unfortunet that the public only see's us in bad press Sometime's I think "If they only knew."
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Ok, I see you think that this is good journalism and that is your opinion. However, you reference the movie with Rock Hudson ( I dont know the name either). I believe that we all know the attagirls and attaboys are few and far between and most of the time we are anonymous and remain in the shadows never to be known by the people we help, but we stay and do our jobs regardless, because we know we do a good job and that, alas, sometimes has to be enough. But. you say he was anonymous in that movie, right ? Well, did he have a national tv broadcast demean bad things that he might have been involved in? Did everyone get to see the not so good people/incidents that he might have been involved in? I would imagine not. So if they feel they must report the bad side of something, fine. But you MUST balance it out with the positive (and not just the last few minutes). There are MANY MANY dispatchers that do an EXCELLENT JOB on a daily basis and dont expect to get recognized, but also dont expect to see their profession slammed on nationwide tv either. Does every job out there have their negative side displayed on national TV ??? You said it yourself at the end of your email."a small percentage" Does the profession deserve that kind of treatment if it is only talking about "a small percentage" Affectionatley signed, I LOVE MY JOB-DESPITE THE NEGATIVE PUBLICITY !!!!
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Hi All, Well I am most intrigued, since joining I have rarely seen anything that has caused such an uproar, judging by reponses, rightfully so.. I know a lot of my fellow workers here & other centres feel that they are hard done by, work conditions, pay etc. But, reading all the different emails, I have come to the conclusion that we are very lucky!!! We have our cli, (gives our 000/911 callers phone number, home address & time call came in. We have procedures to cover most incidents. Our dispatchers/call takers are all mutli skilled & have the opportunity to rise thru the pay increases by years of service, courses etc We will shortly be upgrading computer system to take us into the new mil. I know that this does not necessarily help the needy/hardworking underpaid, workers. Bye for now, keep up the good work ps What is 20/20 ?????
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Come on now, people!! The 20/20 didn't slam our profession as much as point out the problems that we ALL have brought up on this list!! Training, qualified professional coworkers, quality control, pay commensurate with responsibility and responsive management are all issues that have played here. Finally, our cause gets national exposure and you are upset!?!
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I personally welcome the piece as an opportunity to expose these problems. If anything comes of this piece I can only hope that it will be to focus further attention by the politicos that have cut our budgets and inflicted often incompetent management on us.
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Unfortunately, the truth is if 911 calltakers and dispatchers do their job correctly they will never receive any recognition for we are to be the seamless bond between the public and public safetythe only recognition will be by our coworkers, the only satisfaction will be what WE derive from knowing we sent our Officers, Firefighters and EMT's home safely and maybe, just maybe, made a difference to the public we serve. Amen
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I have to agree xxxxx. Although I was working when 20/20 was broadcast I have read the transcript. I pride myself on doing the best job that I can, often going above and beyond the 'necessary'. Unfortunately, I don't believe this is the attitude of many public safety dispatchers and that is what was being pointed out in the show. I don't think 20/20 was talking about me because that is not the type of dispatcher that I am. I am more angry at the dispatchers who are exactly as the show describes and THEY are the ones who give us all a bad name.
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RE: the 20/20 show I did fire off a letter to ABC news but was not confrontational. I just simply stated that for as many negative there are 3X's as many positive that save lives everyday without a mark on their record. I did suggest that they do something positive for "our week" in April to help ease the ill feelings for those of us that do do a good job. I made a point to mention that there are really poor, rude news media also and requested to know if they were going to do a show on them alsojust a polite little jabdoubt we'll see that one anytime soon.
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Hi! You know, I watched that segment and feel that it was grossly mis-titled. They thrust and the spotlight SHOULD have been on " 9-1-1: Will they be able to find you when you call for help?"
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Instead, they took the 'blame the operator' route. I can see all kinds of people rubbing their hands together with glee saying 'ha-ha, 9-1-1 screws up AGAIN'. Of COURSE they picked the absolute WORST tapes to air. The comment about being no more than 'clerks' was insulting. The insuation that since the job is low paying and tedious/stressful it's hard to find 'good help' really ticks me off.
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They very easily could have put the spin on the problems with Cellular in locating victims. They could have addressed Local Number Portability problems. They could have addressed that fact that 1) Not all Centers have Enhanced 9-1-1 to know where you live, 2) If they DO have E911, there may be problems in towns that have streets named the same with same blockfaces 3) Even if you have E911, depending on the area - the address may simply be a rural box number. I think JUST as many people would have had their interest piqued to watch.
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I guess after reading all the messages about the 20/20 segment on 911 I finally owe the President a thank you. It sounds like I would have had a problem sleeping after watching the show. Due to the President's speech I was in a chair waiting for the segment and fell asleep. From what I can gather I dozed off during the commercials just prior to the segment I wanted to see. Oh well, the main comment I would make is that with a ll the negative feedback at work it is nice to hear an attaboy from time to time. It is great to have a boss like mine who actually lets you know he heard you do something more than was needed and it helped. It just balances the ever-present upset many callers have due to the circumstances.
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This kind of response to the 20/20 airing reminds me of when that Kellogs commerical came out some time ago and it had a couple of officers make the comment something like giving the donuts to the dispatchers (something like that, I forget). People can make a difference in things cause the commercial was pulled after the company got 'bombed' with mail food for thought.
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First I watched this show, then I read the transcript. And I am still a little angry with this "news" piece. For those of you that sided with 20/20 I agree in part. Poor dispatcher/call takers should be held accountable. But I also agree with those that said the report was harsh and unfair. It would have been better for the public, and the dispatchers to show a couple good calls, a couple bad calls and to educate why the bad calls happen. For example, poor recruiting, poor training, poor pay, poor management. In contrast, good calls as a result of good training, etc
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Wow, If nothing else, 20/20 sure has created some interesting exchanges on this list! I also sent an E Mail to 20/20 complaining about the unfairness of their story. Now, I have read several of the posts of others, and can see some of their points. Yes 20/20 is out there to draw an audience, and sell advertisement to make money for ABC. It sure would have been nice however for them not just to present the negative. I still don't understand how Jeff Klawson (sic) became a 911 expert. Last time I knew (and our center uses his system) he was an expert in EMD, not 911.
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That certainly took a real journalist to ask the PIO of the police department : "So, do you train your dispatchers to be rude and treat people that way?"
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There are some bad apples in every barrel. There are also many very dedicated professionals out there, who strive to give 110 % everyday to their jobs as dispatchers. I understand 20/20 showing that there are some problems with 911, but maybe if they would have also showed a dispatch center that was striving to provide good training, and quality service to the community, it would have balanced the story a little bit.
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O.k. folks - Lets face the facts. When someones life/lifestyle/property suffers because of the actions of our Emergency Services Personnel - Administration saves face by letting the world know that someone has been disciplined or terminated. That makes news. When Emergency Services Personnel does something good. That is what we get paid to do. In Emergency Services, whether it be Police/Ambulance/Rescue/Fire, the only times we are highlighted in the news is when we do something WRONG. It doesn't matter how many good things you accomplish, One Wrong doing can cost you your job and will be highlighted on the news as if you had been incompetent all your life. Now - DONT get me wrong - I'm not blaming the NewsMedia 100%. Our Administrations could do something about this if they really wanted to. If we are going to jump on the band wagon to get better publicity for our careers, we are going to have to start at home. Eventually it will make 20/20.
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In response -- programs like 20/20 and Dateline exist on controversy, and they're not much different the yellow journalism shows like 'Extra" or 'Inside Edition'. But as a firefighter and a filmmaker, I can honestly say that stories like 20/20's segment last Wednesday, have little effect on the viewers perception of the fine job done by communications professionals. "Rescue/911" is to thank for that. There's an entire generation of people who grew up watching that program, and each week were engrained with the idea that Public Safety Communicators like yourselves remain the unsung heroes. It's interesting for me to note, that the same guy who was on the air ripping apart the first line of defense, served for nearly 8 years as technical advisor for Rescue/911. I'm never really sure who the good Doc from Salt Lake City is working for during any particular week. Us or them? 20/20's segment cast doubt on the calltakers, that's for sure. But I think you'd all have to screw-up in a really big way to lose the public'sabsolute trust.