Emergency Communications Officer

I am two days into my classes to certify for "Emergency Communications Officer" or "Emergency Tele-Communicator" or "Public Safety Dispatcher." ...Or whatever it should be called exactly I've heard them all so far.

My head is already swimming with the responsibility. They likened the job to that of an air traffic controller, one mistake and people can die.

That opens your eyes real quick.

We've discussed at length; liability, ethics and standards etc. Today we got into some "lingo" and acronyms and "standard operating procedures". We've had timed exercises in which we have to listen past distractions and white noise to get numbers on paper in the right order. We've done the same things with Phone numbers and License plates. We discussed the types of callers we will get. Some calm, some hysterical and how to get the information we need.

There's the nosey neighbor calling about why the cops are next door, the lonely people who just want to talk, the possible suicidal callers, the "Red Flags" to watch out for in a call, and the people calling to ask how the roads are on a snow day so they can call work and say the police said to stay off the roads.

"It's snowing, if you don't have to be on the roads-don't go out" ..."Hello boss? The cops said I should stay off the roads..."

And of course all calls are "emergency calls" at the point we pick up the phone and until we determine otherwise.

It is shaping up to be an intimidating class.

We've listened to too many recordings of 9-1-1 calls that were handled poorly and people died. We've watched too many videos of Channel 7 news and 60 Minutes reports about the same kinds of mishaps and 9-1-1 dispatchers who dropped the ball and people paid with their lives.

Some of them were just astounding. All of them were unnecessary.

Before the week is out we were told we will listen to 9-1-1 calls from the Columbine High School shootings.

Over the next week and a half I will certify in CPR and my next week long class will certify me for Emergency Medical Dispatch. I understand Medical Dispatch is a little trickier because of the all the technical medical jargon.

It's been an interesting two days so far.

I can't say I'm disappointed.