Telecommunicator Spotlight: Jen Meyers Is Back Where She Belongs
Jen Meyers has come home to roost. She currently serves as a watch officer for the Office of Emergency Management in the Emergency Communications Center in Arlington County, Va. She has been in this position for three years; however, her initial stint in Arlington County began in 1991 when she served as a dispatcher. She stayed until 2001 and then left Arlington to work as a dispatcher for a smaller agency where she stayed for three years.
The impact of the events of 9/11, the death of a fellow dispatcher, and the death of her mother left Meyers feeling burned out, and she felt she needed to take a break and try something else. Recollecting 9/11, Meyers reflected that even years later she asks herself if it really happened. “It was so surreal. It is still hard. It was probably one reason I needed to take a break. It was so emotional. It was amazing to work with the people I worked with. Everyone came together,” she says.
Though the phone rang constantly on 9/11, there is one call Meyers will never forget. A man called and, in a very calm, matter of fact manner, he told Meyers that he knew his wife was on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon and he knew she had died and accepted it. However, he told Meyers that he needed her to tell him what she could do to find anyone who had been around his wife. He wanted to know if she had said anything. At that point, Meyers knew there were no survivors, but she could not tell him that. “It was such a feeling of total helplessness. I couldn’t tell him the information. I knew there was no way I could help him. I confirmed his feelings. I told him what I could do. I would make an attempt if anyone could give him information.” The man was satisfied with her response. “It broke my heart,” Meyers says.
After her departure from Arlington County, Meyers’ subsequent jobs included working for a furniture store dispatching trucks and working in a contract position for the National Law Enforcement Communications Center for the Postal Inspection Service. After three years of working with the Postal Inspection Service, Meyers accepted a job as a hazardous material specialist with CHEMTREC in Northern Virginia. She mitigated hazardous and material incidents for fire and police departments across the country. “I learned an incredible amount of information from that job. I learned where my heart lies,” Meyers says.
In the meantime, Meyers kept in touch with friends and colleagues from Arlington. A position opened up for a dispatcher and Meyers decided to return to Arlington. “I went home in 2011. It takes a special kind of person to do this job. It’s in our blood,” she says.
In April 2014, Meyers was promoted and became a watch officer; The program was established in October 2013. Arlington is unique in that the four positions in the program are filled by actual dispatchers from the operational floor. In this position, Meyers maintains situational awareness and monitors local, national and worldwide news and events. She has contact with mutual aid and homeland security, and she monitors the “Arlington Alert” and employee alert systems. “This past year has been a lot of learning and challenges,” Meyers says.
Reflecting on her days as a dispatcher, Meyers explains that she loved dispatching. “You get 10 calls. You get that one where you get that feeling inside that you helped that person or the officer. It’s a very intrinsic gratification. If you’re looking for external gratification, you won’t get it,” Meyers says.
Meyers believes that to be a skilled dispatcher, one must possess a good sense of humor. In addition, she feels it is necessary for a person to thrive on his/her own merit and obtain intrinsic validation. She noted that a dispatcher must accommodate an extremely different lifestyle and that it is a 24/7 operation that affects a lot of people entering the profession. “We work Christmas, we work at 3:00 a.m.,” she says. A dispatcher has to be flexible, accommodating and patient. She views the biggest asset is having a strong work ethic. “We can’t be late,” she says, emphasizing that there is someone else who has been there 10–12 hours and if someone is late in reporting to the job, it impacts fellow dispatchers and has “a whole domino effect.”
In returning to Arlington to work in communications, Meyers is hoping to make an impact in some way concerning mental health and the emotional aspects of dispatching. She realizes that dispatchers do not get the same closure that police officers and firefighters do. “We just take the call, but it wears on you after time. We don’t get the closure that they do. We have to hang up and move on to the next call. We keep moving. Cops may be staying on a call for 3–4 hours. We’ve answered 20 more calls” she says. Meyers says her next career goal is to be involved in training that focuses on consideration of the mental health and emotional well-being aspects of the job.
In her free time, Meyers enjoys sight-seeing, visiting museums, taking day trips, writing poetry and journals, theater, music and spending time with family when she is not working. She recognizes it is important to leave the job behind on her off time. “You sometimes have to step out of the zone,” she says.
Meyers’ diversified career experience has enabled her to find a satisfying career niche. She is content, productive and making a positive difference. Meyers is back where she belongs.
Karen L. Bune serves as an adjunct professor at George Mason University and Marymount University in Virginia, and she 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 in Washington, D. C.