Telecommunicator Spotlight: Virginia Radio System Manager Lisa Thompson
For 33 years, Lisa Thompson has been employed in the Emergency Communications Center for Arlington County, Va. She plans to retire in October 2013 and relocate to Tidewater, Va. She currently serves as the radio system manager, but she has vast experience in the communications arena, including dispatching.
Her initial desire was to be a police officer for the Arlington County Police Department, but at the time there was an opening in central records. Thompson took the job, worked there for six months and hated it. Subsequently, she became a meter maid and says she “loved” the job but injured her knee on duty. As a result of the injury, Thompson couldn’t walk at the time and was placed in the communications center to work. “I was in heaven,” she says. “I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen.”
She served as a calltaker for six months and then became a teletype operator. From there, she became a police dispatcher. “I begged to be on the radio,” she says. Thompson then became a fire dispatch trainer before being promoted to supervisor. Finally, the position of radio manager became available and her colleagues urged her to apply. “I tested well for it,” she says, and she was the only radio manager in the region.
Of all the positions she has held, being a police dispatcher was her favorite. “It was like mental chess with people. You knew you were helping people,” Thompson says. “It has to be self-gratifying. You knew when you did a good job, and you do your best.”
Thompson recognizes the skills needed to be a good dispatcher include multi-tasking and being able to hold several conversations at one time and sustain them. It’s also necessary to prioritize. She didn’t recognize how good she was at it until she began training others. She tells others who may be interested in the field that one must be self-entertaining and self-congratulatory and be able to deal with people screaming on the phone or crying and hysterical in different ways. “After 30 years, I still hear things I’ve never heard before. It’s still fresh and new and fun,” Thompson says. She adds that individuals who long to do this job must recognize that dispatchers are the support staff for the first responders.
Arlington County maintains one radio system. “It is a very sophisticated system. I train people new to the position how to work the radio,” Thompson says. Her job includes making sure the county maintains a good and robust system. “It’s important their equipment and the system work well and radio interoperability works regionally. The regional aspect of things is interesting,” she says.
How did she become so adept in her present position? She received on-the-job training and went to some Motorola classes on database management. There was no role model for her; she made the job what it is. Her job is to manage the system, but she does not fix it.
On weekends, Thompson will dispatch for fun and to bring in some extra income. Dispatching, she explains, is a narrow focus and centers upon what is happening at the moment. “It’s a reactionary job. Less than 10% of the population could do the job,” she says.
For Thompson, the most difficult aspect of her job as radio manager is getting it all done. “It’s very stressful,” she says. However, she works diligently and has been successful. “I’m very emotionally attached to my job. I always have been,” she says. For Thompson, the challenge is to do the best she can do and make things happen. She is currently involved in a big fiber-optic project. “It’s a huge project,” she says.
Thompson is proud of the fact that she is currently the national president of the Motorola Trunked User Group that meets twice per year. She served as chapter president in the past.
Thompson relieves job stress by going on a cruise twice a year. She also likes to read police books, mysteries and murder stories. She enjoys photography and spending time with friends and family. Thompson has friends both on and off the job. Having been in the business for three decades, her colleagues are like family to her and she spends a lot of time with them. However, on her time off, she tries not to talk business.
Reflecting on her career of 33 years, Thompson says, “I have loved every minute of my job. I have done nothing else but this. All in all, it has been a fantastic ride. I’m very, very lucky and fortunate.” She welcomes others to investigate the field. “Call the 9-1-1 center and ask for a tour. We’re always hiring,” she says.
About the Author
Karen L. Bune serves as an adjunct professor at George Mason University and Marymount University in Virginia, and is a consultant for the Training and Technical Assistance Center for the Office for Victims of Crime and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice. She is a nationally recognized speaker and trainer on public safety issues. Bune is Board Certified in Traumatic Stress and Domestic Violence, and she is a Fellow of The Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and the National Center for Crisis Management. She serves on the Institutional Review Board of The Police Foundation, Washington, D.C.