Celebrating the Successes of Dispatch

Celebrating the Successes of Dispatch

When I was a 911 director, I sat in on many interviews for candidates wanting to be hired as dispatchers. One of the questions we always asked of them was “Why do you want to work here?” You could probably guess the most common answer to that question: “Because I want...
Small Changes That Make a Big Impact

Small Changes That Make a Big Impact

It seems that we are inundated with wellness tips for dispatchers these days, and for good reason. Dispatchers prioritize work over their own health way too often. While it is an understandable affliction (after all, 911 can become an addiction that keeps us coming...
Lateral Hires

Lateral Hires

It’s not unusual to advertise with the vision of hiring an experienced person into the public safety environment.  I’ve seen groups of police chiefs and PSAP Directors send verbal jabs at each other for stealing prized employees.  Most of the jabs were said in jest,...
Reflections on the Healing Wall

Reflections on the Healing Wall

Not too long ago, I visited the Healing Wall, a three-quarter size replica of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, commonly referred to as The Wall. I needed to go. I was connected to it indirectly through my friend David O. Chung. When I met David, known better as...