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Dispatcher who hung up on 911 caller resigns

Ockham

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Add this story to the every growing body of horrid work by people who are supposed to help us. This time, it's not a cop but a firefighter dispatcher.


Dispatcher who hung up on 911 caller resigns | Albuquerque Journal News

We as a country, need to do a better job at evaluating and training people in police and fire. That goes for rookies as well as veterans of 10, 20 or more years. This kind of behavior:

"Okay, do you know what ma'am? You can deal with yourself. I'm not going to deal with this, okay?"

is unacceptable. This guy's resignation isn't enough, there should be an investigation and legal charges brought against this guy as it may be that he was partially at fault for this kid dying.
 

Yep, they also need to understand that people in stress don't always have the most immaculate manners, geez Louise. When I had my wreck the 911 operator had me nearly screaming to the point of near hysteria because she kept asking me questions that would require me to see, and I couldn't because the airbag had blown my glasses way into the back seat somewhere, and I am too blind to find them even if I could have gotten to the back seat, which I couldn't because I was crashed in the far left lane and cars were still piling up, hence my safest place was to stay put.... I kept answering, "I don't know, I can't see, I can't find my glasses," and she kept asking things like "is anybody hurt in any of the other cars," and "how many cars are involved," stuff requiring eyesight. By the time the police arrived five minutes later, I was literally just screaming at the woman, and she hung up. Police were already there though, so not as big a deal as this, same concept though. They need to understand and they need to listen, which they seem to fail to do.
 


And this is what made him say that and hang up on the girl:

911 caller: “He’s barely breathing. How many times do I have to f***ing tell you?”
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Thats it?? I was expecting she went off on him. Very extremely unacceptable.
 
americanwoman said:
And this is what made him say that and hang up on the girl:




Thats it?? I was expecting she went off on him. Very extremely unacceptable.
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Exactly, it's the "how many times do I have to tell you," aspect that got to me as well. They don't listen, they just keep asking the same things, don't offer any kind of calming words, don't tell you the police are on the way, just keep asking the same two or three questions. Anyone, even not in stress, is likely to get mouthy and pissed.
 
americanwoman said:
And this is what made him say that and hang up on the girl:

Thats it?? I was expecting she went off on him. Very extremely unacceptable.
Click to expand...

I thought to myself when I heard the audio just how casually that girl dropped the f-bomb.

No excuse for the dispatcher's lack of professionalism, IMO.

But I'd like to stand up now for dispatchers in general. This disgraceful story made the news because it's extraordinary, not because it's ordinary.
 
Gimmesometruth said:
So...how are you going to pay for better?
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It's a better selection policy, it's a better evaluation policy and it's a better training policy. Pay has nothing to do with it.
 


Thing is, dispatchers often have a script they're required to follow. It's designed to elicit information needed by responders (and probably to limit liability of dispatchers and responders). Whether it does that may be open to debate, but dispatchers shouldn't be blamed for doing the job as they're told to do it. Certainly, it can frustrate callers and that's no excuse for dispatchers to hang up on them. OTOH, I can understand dispatchers trying to do the job as directed (when they themselves may not agree with that method) becoming frustrated when the callers get "mouthy and pissed."
 
IF they can't handle themselves, they shouldn't be handling dispatch. /end
 
Ockham said:
It's a better selection policy, it's a better evaluation policy and it's a better training policy. Pay has nothing to do with it.
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I see, so you have identified the specific fault in their policy...that did not screen out a 10 year firefighter working dispatch.
 
Gimmesometruth said:
I see, so you have identified the specific fault in their policy...that did not screen out a 10 year firefighter working dispatch.
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I've identify a general fault in their selection and training policy - which would have identified this individual as incapable or unable to perform the duties of dispatch. One that finally forced him to resign. You expect me to believe that he just woke up one day from his 10 years in the fire department and said to himself, "**** it, I'll hang up on someone who needs help today!"

:lamo
 
Ockham said:
I've identify a general fault in their selection and training policy - which would have identified this individual as incapable or unable to perform the duties of dispatch.
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So this is what you do, you identify and fix dept policy issues.
One that finally forced him to resign.
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Their resignation thingy seems to be working.
You expect me to believe that he just woke up one day from his 10 years in the fire department and said to himself, "**** it, I'll hang up on someone who needs help today!"
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I don't remember saying that, but maybe you heard it from him..who knows.

:lamo
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oh good a smilie
 
CHuDWah said:
Agreed and that's what I alluded to here: But my post was in reply to this: Again, dispatchers may not have any choice what questions they ask.
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Point is they don't seem to actually listen to the answer, regardless of how many times one repeats oneself.
 
Summerwind said:
Point is they don't seem to actually listen to the answer, regardless of how many times one repeats oneself.
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Or the answer may not have provided the information needed. And yes, that can be a problem with scripted questions.
 

You're right, but the other side of the coin is that 911 centers get many phone calls, and a lot of them are over very trivial matters. They call in the silliest things, and I know that because I listen to police dispatchers on my scanner, and it is actually LOL some of the crazy calls they get.

Point is I understand how he might have considered it a trivial call, and maybe he was in a bad mood, and almost anything else.

But I do agree he should be somehow punished for the death of the youngster.
 
Gimmesometruth said:
So...how are you going to pay for better?
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We're already paying for better.

We're paying for it already, and we're going to demand that we receive an acceptable level of service.

What this dispatcher did is entirely unacceptable.
 
This dispatcher needs to be put in jail for a time and then shot dead.
 
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