manes
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I am coming on here to give a first and only post to this entire situation. There have been many things said, especially about the situation the night of the shooting and and the subsequent disciplinary action taken against the dispatcher/supervisor. I am going to move beyond the situation as I feel that has been discussed enough. There is an urgent problem within the Floyd County 911 System. First, the CAD system should have been removed out of the center within 6 months of it first being installed, it was clear at that point this equipment failed to meet the needs of the department and has defects in the system that literally everyday put the emergency responding personal and the citizens of this county at risk. There is NO excuse for that!! This information has been known by the director, assistant director and what I assume, to be known by the county manager. Why is it still in place? I can assure you not one dispatcher sitting in that room can explain why and it certainly hasn't been explained by anyone of authority. It is demanded that as a dispatcher that we give 100 percent every time we walk in that door, without fail, without excuses, and do it to perfection. If you fail in accomplishing this task punishment is swift and harsh. Why, I ask, are we expected to work with this equipment that inhibits our ability to do so and have our own questions and concerns ignored pertaining to the CAD system when they are asked? This goes for the phones in the center as well. People, we can't hear, there is an echo so bad in the phones that we constantly have to ask callers to repeat themselfs. Nothing has been done about this either, dispatchers are told to "write" down every time it happens and at which console they are sitting at when it happens. It's ALL of them already!!! There has to be 500 sheets of paper laying around up there somewhere with documentation on it where dispatchers writes down every time the phone malfunctions. Nothing is ever done, what is the point? Do we really need something else to do in that dispatch room? And Tex, you want us to come up with what a good solution might be???? I know for me, I am at my wits end, I get paid to dispatch and to the best the good lord gives me the ability to do, certainly SOMEBODY is getting paid to come up with a solution to resolve this issue. If there isn't anyone working on it by now......well this county has bigger problems than the 911 center.
I respect all my co-workers. Our job is hard and very stressful, we all sit together and do the best we can, many times above and beyond but do we ever get a "thank you, I know things are a little stressed around here right now" out of the management? NO. There as I have read been mention of a "click" at the 911 center. My opinion....Yes there is, without a doubt. What people do on their off time and with whom they do it with is really their own business, but when it so clearly spills over into the work place and is put before every employee to see and hear is rather offensive. I can't begin to tell you what that does for moral.
Being short handed all the time is another issue. We can't keep dispatchers in the center for various reasons. One of those reasons shouldn't be because the administration office needs someone to answer their phones so they can still have three days a week off and pull a "new hire" out of the dispatch room. Dispatcher's haven't enjoyed that luxury for over a year. If they wanted extra help in the administration office, they could have at least asked other dispatchers if they wanted to work a few days answering the phone and pulling tapes, if for not other reason to give them a break from the stress of dispatching for a day or two. What would make even more sense is for the Administration office to work Mon.- Fri. and they wouldn't need a dispatcher to answer the phone, there would always be two of the in the office to do that. That however, is not how things work at 911. I hope this sheds a little light to the public as to the real issues that have been going on for such a long time. We as dispatchers to try to give you our best at all times.
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