Here in my little corner of the world we have been having a lot of problems with our radio lately. Something about the fiber-optics, misrouted fairy dust, flux capacitor, or some such nonsense. You can’t call me very tech savvy. I push the button, I talk, I let off the button, and people talk to me. Same thing with my CAD: I type on it and words form on the screen. No, I didn’t do anything different to it that would cause it to crash! I have been typing on the same keyboard/CAD for how many years? It’s all the same keystrokes: a never-ending stream of codes, call types and narratives, why would I all of a sudden push F9 instead of F1 after F1 has been doing such a great job all these years?

Can you tell my IT guy just loves me? “Hey, the thing that makes my unit go here is broken; can you please come fix it? Oh, and while you’re in there, can I have a purple background? It’s my favorite color!” I don’t know why he always turns in the opposite direction when he sees me in the hallway. Hmmmmmm?

Anyway, it got me to thinking about “back in the day.” Having been swimming along in this industry for so long and having known so many officers, deputies and firefighters, you can never get far from a good ol’ bull session of “How we used to do it … and remember whens?” Looking back over the years, it sure does seem that we rely more heavily on technology now. And it keeps changing and evolving faster and faster as time goes by. This is one of the reasons I am always preaching continuing education and keeping up with trends in the industry. It will definitely pass you by, and your job can outgrow you if you aren’t careful. You really don’t want to wait until you are going through a critical call to realize that you aren’t prepared or properly trained to handle it. I recently heard a great saying that I just love. I’m sure it was meant for the field units, but can be applied to all of us: Don’t train until you get it right; train until you can’t get it wrong!

I am probably going to date myself, but thanks to technology, my teletype is now Windows based and has so many nifty shortcuts to it. I used to have to look up (and eventually memorize) all the specific codes in order to enter something or someone into the NCIC. And you had better get all the spaces, commas and semicolons in the correct position or it would kick it back and you would have to start over. No auto-correct here! There was no way to attach an image to an entry, or even e-mail a photo from another agency to verify identity of a possible wanted subject. Better get all those identifying scars, marks and tattoos in there and correctly. No training programs to practice on; it was all on-the-job training. Paper logs, booking sheets and uniform traffic tickets have all been computerized, as well as our radios, phones and maps. Everything is password protected and most change every 30–90 days, keeping us all on our toes. Researching crimes, locations and prior offenses has become as easy as a push of a button. Even recording devises have been computerized and are taking less and less room; remember those reel to reels and VHS tapes that had to be changed every 24 hours?

Everything has been and continues to be streamlined wherever possible. My agency is considered mid-size, and we have access to much more than we utilize, and there are still areas that we can improve upon. Some still like to hold onto the “way it has always been done” for fear of letting go of the paper trail. Because, you just never know, you might need that someday! Some habits are hard to break.

I think my favorite advancement is the GPS or AVLs . The only improvement I would love to see (at our department anyway) is GPS in the portable radios in addition to or instead of the field unit’s vehicles. I have personally used this feature to truly save a deputy’s hiney twice. And yet, some still think I have the time, or the interest to play Big Brother. Really guys, it’s just a tool to make my job easier, not to watch your little unit move around the screen like Pac Man.

But with all the innovations and progress, computers and technology can and do fail on occasion. Say it isn’t so! The funny thing is this is where we old-timers shine. I always make sure my portable, pen and scratch pad are in arm’s reach at all times. Junior guys on the road can’t map their calls for service and ask for the address 10 times before they get on scene. We used to (back in the day) have a training officer who used to out of the blue tell his trainee to “Stop!” the cruiser and then ask his rookie to name his location without looking at the street signs. After all, the first thing we learn in all phases of this job is location, location, location. Can’t do, go or help without a location! One of my former Watch Commanders had a great little tool to make sure his guys did the proper amount of business checks; he would go in the field on night shift and put pennies on the doorknobs, at the end of shift he would check and see how much change was collected. And it better match up with what he put out there! A good cop will know his district, zone or neighborhood, hat is normal and what is unusual. A good cop will also appreciate a good dispatcher. Right, guys? We love to catch the bad guy, save the victim and worry about your personal safety just as much as you do. I promise.

So the point that I am trying to make is train for the worst possible situation. What happens when the CADs go down? What happens when the phones go down? What happens when the power fails? This actually happened to my agency just after Hurricane Charley hit in 2004. Our generator failed and we lost everything for more than two hours. The absolute worst feeling in the world for a dispatcher: having no control. Train until you can do it with your eyes closed so to speak. Practice your backup plan until it becomes a smooth transition when things go south. We can never train enough! Train until you can’t get it wrong, and before you know it, all you younger folks out there will have your own “Remember when” stories.

Stay safe my family!

About the Author
Cindra Dunaway is a 9-1-1 dispatcher for the Lee County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office. Contact her via e-mail at cdunaway@sheriffleefl.org.