The Dispatcher: A 911 Dispatcher's Guide to the Job - and Everything They Don't Tell You

The headset goes on. The phone rings. And suddenly, you're the person everyone expects to know what to do.

Becoming a 911 dispatcher means learning far more than how to answer a phone or talk on a radio. There's the training, the mistakes, the twelve-hour shifts, the impossible-to-understand radio traffic, the callers who won't answer the question you actually asked, the coworkers you'll spend more waking hours with than your family-and the lunch you may reheat three times before finally giving up.

THE DISPATCHER is a candid, practical guide to the job and everything that tends to get left out of formal training.

Inside, you'll find real-world guidance on:

• Surviving training and building confidence
• Finding your voice and taking control of difficult calls
• Developing your "radio ear"
• Prioritizing when everything happens at once
• Working with police, fire, EMS, coworkers, and supervisors
• Getting through twelve-hour shifts and night shift
• Eating, sleeping, and occasionally making it to the bathroom
• Handling mistakes without letting them destroy your confidence
• Dealing with hard calls-and the ones you never get an ending to
• Recognizing when job stress has become something more
• Leaving work at work without becoming numb to the people you serve
• Becoming the experienced dispatcher the new person is relieved to see

This isn't a protocol manual, and it won't tell you how every communications center operates. Your agency will teach you its procedures. This book is about the part of dispatching that you won't find in the training binder.

Whether you're considering a career in 911, sitting in training wondering whether you'll ever get the hang of it, or already wearing the headset, The Dispatcher offers an honest look at what the job asks of you-and what can help you become good at it without letting it consume you.

The job. The calls. The reality of dispatch.