By Dan Quedenfeld, RPL

“How good is the Communications Division at communicating, really?” This was the challenge presented to the Broomfield (Colo.) Police Communications Specialists in 2010 by the Department Support Services Bureau deputy chief during a meeting to establish our 2011 Division Vision Statement and Division Group Norms. This conversation had two main points.

1. How do we see ourselves; how good are we?

2. How do officers and other department employees see us; how good are we in their eyes?

The answers to these questions should come as no great surprise to anyone. Obviously the communication staff is confident that they are excellent at their jobs. They are confident that when called upon for a service, each dispatcher knows what to do, knows where and how to find an appropriate solution to any request, that each communications center employee is exceptional in the operation of their console system, the location and operation of city and county services, and access to multiple intra-agency resources. In short, communication specialists indeed are routinely the subject matter experts for citizen and officer assistance.

The answer to the second question came as a bit of a surprise. Our deputy chief asked if anyone would be surprised to hear that employees outside of communications did not share the confidence that we had in ourselves. In fact, some opinions were that there was inconsistency among dispatchers, and some were not proficient in their duties. This did not mean that the dispatchers were bad people; it merely opined that task completion was inconsistent and that the dispatchers were not as proficient at their job as they perhaps could be. As is human nature, hearing negative things about your group is difficult to accept. Yet, after the initial shock and further discussion, it was not taken personally by the dispatchers.

The Broomfield Police Department is part of the city and county of Broomfield. Located in the northwest portion of the Denver metropolitan area, the city and county serve a population of approximately 55,000. Visits to the city and county are welcomed at our website, broomfield.org. The city and county do not have a sheriff’s department. The chief of police is recognized as the ex-officio sheriff. The police department consists of 200 employees, 148 sworn and 52 civilian, who serve in one of two bureaus, the Operations Bureau or the Support Services Bureau. Each bureau has a deputy chief of police.

The Operations Bureau consists of the Patrol Division, which includes Court Security and Civil Units, Investigations Division and Special Operations Division, which consists of the Traffic Unit and the Flatiron Services Unit (Flatiron Crossing Mall).

The Support Services Bureau consists of the Administration Division, Communications Division, Detention Division and the Animal Control Division. One benefit our department has is that the communications center is located within the main police department building. Although it is secure from public access, it is always available to department personnel, who routinely visit the center for both professional and personal business.

The first step of this challenge was to identify and address the perceptions of the communications center with other divisions, with the goal of enhancing the quality and effectiveness of communications and its personnel. Do we need to change the impressions that officers and employees have about dispatch? If so, how do we change those impressions? How do we maintain a professional approach and avoid any personal agendas and/or conflicts?

This Liaison Program assigned individual dispatchers to a specific division, starting with the smaller units and eventually working up to the largest, Patrol and Detention. Two dispatchers developed a set of 10 questions, five specific to each division, and five general to the police department. Each question was designed to identify a pattern of opinions about the department and about the divisions, and to evaluate how communications was operating. The words “strengths” and “weaknesses” were purposely avoided, with the questions focusing instead on softer language: What is working well, what is working good, and what could work better? The language was important to prevent communications being portrayed as having “weaknesses.” The Liaison Program philosophy is to take a leadership role in promoting positive teamwork among all employees within the police department.

With the Liaison Program questions in place, the interviews began. The selected divisions’ sergeants were interviewed first, to promote cooperation and thorough understanding of the Liaison Program at the supervisory levels. With those concluded, the one-on-one officer interviews took place. Addressing each compliment and criticism from individual officers and employees would be an impossible task, so the results of the interviews focused on patterns of compliments and criticisms within each division. The assigned dispatchers reviewed and identified these categories, then met with the dispatcher who conducted interviews of a separate division to compare the results, identify the patterns and narrow the list to those patterns. For example, the first two divisions interviewed were Animal Control and Court Security. The two dispatchers compared their results and compiled a list of patterns from each division. This list identified a manageable level of higher priority areas to address. These patterns are described in the following table:

Training sessions were conducted with communications staff to present the final patterns, and identify and establish a plan of action to implement the changes. Five questions were selected as the highest priority areas, and that format would be the plan-of-action document. The five categories were selected so the worksheets given to each dispatcher were not too overwhelming and difficult to manage. As additional division interviews are concluded, updates to the plan of action will be implemented in the most effective, efficient and timely manner.

A follow-up meeting, this time a group event, will be facilitated by the assigned dispatchers with the division sergeants and officers to discuss and agree upon a plan of action to implement these tasks. After the training sessions, the sergeants of the completed divisions will be interviewed again within two months, to determine what was working and what may need to be adjusted further to work in the most effective and efficient manner. This will ensure that this program remains an ongoing proactive process within the department.

Additional interviews have been completed with other divisions within the police department; the Traffic Unit and Investigations Division. These interviews revealed similar patterns found in the interviews with Animal Control and Court Security Units.

Ultimately, the Liaison Program will identify officers who will interview the Communications Division staff in the same manner to promote positive teamwork.

About the Author
Dan Quedenfeld, RPL, has been in the police services for 32 years as a police officer and dispatcher. He has served with the city and county of Broomfield Police Department, which is located on the northwest edge of the Denver metro area for 27 of those years. He was a police officer for 17 years, with assignments in the Patrol Division as an officer and training officer, in the Criminal Investigations Division as a detective in the juvenile and fraud units, and in the Special Operations Division in the Flatiron Crossing mall unit. Since retiring from uniform service due to a line-of-duty injury 10 years ago, he has served in the Communications Division as a Communication Specialist, Communications Trainer and Communications Training Coordinator. He has a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in criminal justice, was honored with the Broomfield Police Officer of the Year award in 1998, and received an RPL certification from APCO in January 2013.