Notes From The Trenches

Not all public safety dispatching news is made by the FCC, NENA, APCO or other groups. Sometimes it's made right at a console, by dispatchers working in the trenches. And that's where Linda Olmstead gathered her material each month for the column, "Notes From The Trenches," which ran in DISPATCH Monthly for almost three years.

She wrote about the strange, the weird, the sad and happy, the dispatchers, the citizens and the officers, all playing out that huge theater that is public safety dispatching. Somehow Linda managed to boil it all down to its essence and to put an entertaining spin on it. She took a break from writing in 2000, but has not returned to keyboard to pen more insights into public safety communications.

Dispatch tape recordings are a little bit like traveling in a Time Machine...and other stories. April, 1999

I feel like a back alley gambler, blowing across some dice, shaking them in my cupped hand and chanting, "Come on, 94-102-give us ANI/ALI!" May, 1999

Right now, there's a dispatcher somewhere, re-living an incident she handled in 1984. June, 1999

At the time of this writing, we haven't yet experienced the Fourth of July festivities, but it's already been cookin' 'round here-abouts. July, 1999

We have had a barn swallow couple nesting in the carport attached to our Comm Center. August, 1999

Sometime we leave our assigned trenches and go out in the world. [grin]. September, 1999

If there could be "constants" in this line of work, DMV mysteries would be one of them. October, 1999

Summer may be over, but the Silly Season isn't through with us yet. December, 1999

How many of us are in this job for the money? May I have a show of hands? January, 2000

This work we do is pretty much the same everywhere. I can say that because I've worked for two different agencies and at five different Comm Centers. February, 2000

We're now well into the first quarter of 2000. March, 2000

What's happening at your Comm Center during National Telecommunicators Week? April, 2000

We have to make fun (in a couple senses of that phrase) and find enjoyment in our work or it would just be a total bummer all the time. May, 2000

Tradition. This can be a system rich in history and steeped in honor. There's a lot of emotional attachment to traditions, too. June, 2000

Well, I've had a nice break from work. At the time of this writing, I'm on vacation. September, 2000

Some of the really notable things that happened in my Comm Center weren't "ready for Prime Time," if you know what I mean. February 2001

I return to "The Trenches" after a long break--and have lots more stories. July 2008

From dispatcher, to supervisor to administrator--it involves looking at the BIG picture. July 2008