Sunday, November 26, 2006

Ohhhhhhhhh, Baracuda!



So I was called to testify at a trial, which in my opinion is beyond stupid. Cops opinions on situations, matter, but not mine! As a 911 operator and dispatcher, I live by the motto, "They tell me, I tell you, you go." If you want to know what was said, go pull the tape, I am not paid to have original thoughts. So I had never testified before and I was feeling pretty confident. Even though the event in question had occurred months back, I had reviewed the call and by some miracle of God I actually remembered it as well. So I was up on the stand, and this 12 year old ADA begins questioning me. He was so green, stuttering and paper rifling, but I wasn't concerned, I had truth, memory and notes on my side. He finally sits down and this horrible female defense attorney stands up. Now I have seen enough episodes of Law and Order, and I was thinking I was prepared for anything. Besides, I barely did anything on this call. This lady called 911 and said her friend "Ted" just left the AA meeting drunk. Way to go Ted. So she gives us Ted's address and this is like the millionth "BOL for a possible deuce heading to XX location" I have given out. This one, however, is the only one where the "where's a cop when you need him" didn't apply. What I mean by that is; how many drunks have you seen on the road and wished a cop was around, but come on, lets be honest there just aren't enough of them to go around. I digress, so a Sgt. happened to be in the area and witnessed Ted pull into his driveway, then Ted walked into his private residence. The Sgt. and several other officers, based on the RPs info, contacted Ted, deemed he was drunk, then since the Sgt. had witnessed him driving they then arrested him on a DUI charge. Flash forward to this Defense Lady (or Dragon Lady. Either way she will be called DL.) So she stands up and is all syrupy at first, but I am ready for her. I remain calm and remember not to elaborate, just answer the question, (thanks Jack McMcoy!) Then the DL starts hammering me out of no where about what did I say and how did I say it. Then the worst thing happened. I remembered something while I was sitting on the stand that I had forgotten. So the second I said, "Wait, I just remembered...." She latched on to me like the blood sucking leech she was. Finally, exasperated, I said, "With all due respect, (not much), why don't you just pull the tape, if you want to know what I said and how I said it?" She went deadly still and pouted for a while before dismissing me. Soooooooooo, after sitting through the rest of the trial, me, the Sgt. and three other officers, were standing in the hall. We were discussing this female cop, who I will call "Jill" and I said to the guys, "That woman is an evil vindictive, b-i-t-c-h, who would eat her own young if given the chance. Right?" I couldn't figure out why they all went silent. I spun around and came nose to nose with the Dragon Lady. It's one of those moments where you feel all awkward but you know, the socially acceptable thing to do would be for both parties to ignore the comment and pretend/hope it wasn't overheard. Yeah, but that's just not me. So she is just staring at me and I say, "I wasn't talking about you, you know..." She just glared/huffed and stalked right by me. Guess I'll never know if it was because she overheard and thought I was gossiping about her or if it was because her probable cause hearing went down in flames. Either way, the good guys won.


PS. I get to take a break from training tomorrow night and work at Wonderful PD. Yeah!!!! Oh my beloved 10 codes I will see you soon. It is going to be soooo nice to not suck at dispatching again for a whole night.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Some Dispatchers (ME!!!) Should Remain in Their Seats...




Hello! As you may have guessed I threw myself headlong into training and that is why I haven't posted in a while. The prayers definitely have helped! I am doing sooooo much better. It is still hard and I have a ways to go, but my new trainer is confident in my eventual success. Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have to go to work soon, so I'll post more on Friday. Quick story first: I got called out into "the field" to assist an officer with a translation. (American Sign Language) The call came out as Eval for 5150. There was a possiblly homeless deaf woman who had brought in all of her property and sat down at a table inside of a carpet store and wasn't leaving. We were trying to determine if she was mentally fit and able to care for herself, how can we help her etc., Long story short, after TWO HOURS of interpreting I realized all the lady wanted, was help finding the right bus to catch! She just happened to have all of her worldly possesions with her because she was looking for an apartment. It wasn't my fault, she was giving me so much extra info, the idea got lost, but wow that officer must have thought I was the worst translator in the world!

Monday, November 06, 2006

Psssst.....I Have a Secret....



I am in way over my head. I am totally out of depth. When I interviewed for this position, I ASSumed that since Close to Home PD is the same size as Evil and Wonderful PD, it must have about the same amount of radio traffic/difficulty. I was way wrong. Close to Home is insanely, exponentially more busy than either of my recent agencies. Oh, sure I have the experience, technically. If I had come straight from Huge PD, I'd have my poop down in no time. But truthfully, in the middle of the nights at Wonderful PD, I watch DVDs and read books. I have time for Bible study and catching up on emails. At close to home, it is constant go go go go. I barely have time to catch my breath. The officers run stops back to back, there are 4 times as many officers as I am used to, as I am trying to catch up entering them into the CAD they all start calling out warrant/DL checks and I haven't even BEGUN to attempt doing phones at the same time. Also, at my other agency, WPD, I know the officer's voices like a family member. So even if someone keys the mike and just utters one syllable, I know who it was. CPD, not only do I only recognize one voice, (and that is ONLY because he sounds identical to my Uncle Jerry), but unassigned units are constantly popping up. So, say I have on all my normal Adam units and 2 Sams. On top of that the detectives (Idas) and Mcops, (Noras) sometimes, off duty so they just call out their badge number. I don't trust that I really heard what I thought I heard, so I look up at my line up. I KNOW I heard a three, I have an ADAM three, so I doubt myself and call that out and inevitably I get, "I said NORA THREE!" Oh, add on that we have overlap, so we have 1A1 working when 3A1, is working (times 1-5) and they cut off the first number. I don't recognize their names so HOW ON EARTH AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHO THEY ARE?????? Sure if they cut themselves off I can just say, "Ten 4 Adam 1" but I REFUSE to say 10-4 until I know exactly what is going on for officer safety issues. Plus it really matters for the computer's side. Add in the stress of learning a whole new code/beat/computer system, the fact that as a Per Diem employee I can only work 936 hours a year and those are rapidly being eaten up in training, and finally the most important point of this post: they thought I was going to walk right in the door, learn the codes and computer and start working right away, so I have massive unspoken pressure each time I screw up. And know what? Right now, I MASSIVELY SUCK as a dispatcher trainee. (Don't even count the fact that I have a CA cop husband, and they keep getting killed, I had my 1 year old in the emergency room for high fever this weekend, I memorize an entire script and perform as a main character every Sunday at church during our 40 days of Purpose campaign, (which I love) am the newly designated head of the Drama Ministry, teach an American Sign Language class on Monday nights, Bible Study on Tuesdays and I am coming down with a cold. ) Those factors do not and really, should not matter to CPD. I am telling you, honestly the only real pressure I am feeling is to succeed at work. The other things are being given over to God and He is handling them just fine. I think it's time to hand Him this one last thing, because, without help I am drowning and I really need this job. I CAN do this. They are training a girl right off the street with no experience. Aren't I better and more qualified? Yes, I am. So, I have scrapped my "come and go as I please/barely 20 hours a week" training that I was doing, and today at 4pm I start with a new trainer, full time, 10 hours a day with Friday- Sunday off. I have moved my ASL class to across the street on my lunch break (at my In-Laws house), I switched Bible Study from Tuesdays to Sundays and rehearsals/memorization for Drama have been moved until AFTER the stress of the work week is over, on Fridays/Saturdays. Can't do anything about the cop/husband and the 1 year old (nor would I want to!) This Sunday I finally filled out a Prayer request card for this, so the whole congregation is praying for me to do well. So guys, today I start fresh and committed. As Chris says, it's sh-- or get off the pot time and gosh darn it I want to sh--!!!!!! (Biiiiiiiiiiiiigggg deep cleansing breath...) Here goes.......(To Be Continued)