911

A Dispatcher's Prayer

Dear Lord, help me keep safe those who depend on me. Give me healthy ears, for they are my link with those who need me. Keep my mind sharp and alert, my fingers quick and nimble. Grant that I never forget how to do ten things at once, and do them all equally well.
Bless me with patience Lord. Patience to deal with the public, with the officers, with the boss, and with everyone else who makes me want to grit my teeth and yell.
Give me nerves of steel, that I may listen to a mother screaming for her child to live, the man with a gun, or an officer yelling for backup, and not give way to panic.
Grant me empathy, that I may help the battered wife, the rape victim, the abused child, and not cause them more pain than they already have.
God, give me the ability to learn what I need, to remember it quickly, and give me the wisdom to use the knowledge properly.
Bless my family Lord, for they will have to make sacrifices to shift work, overtime, canceled plans, and times when I just can't take on one more thing. Help them understand the missed ball games, school programs, and dinners for two.
Lord, give me courage. Courage to persevere when I feel undervalued, unappreciated, overworked, and unrecognized. Courage to keep trying when I feel in my heart it's hopeless.
Last of all Lord, help me to never forget why I chose to do this job in the first place, to never lose sight of what is important in the midst of the stress. Help me to remember that I make a difference, however small it may seem some days, and that I matter.

Author Unknown

My official job title? Public Safety Dispatcher for Salt Lake City Police Department. Also known as a 911 operator. What do I actually do there? You might be surprised. I work the graveyard shift which in the fair city of Salt Lake you might think would get pretty boring, and it does.. most nights. We play games, cards, watch internet television, surf the web and get on each others nerves all night long, when it's quiet. It's the usual parties, traffic accidents, barking dogs, and domestics. Some nights it's shootings, stabbings, gang fights and robberies.

I've found that most people who call 911 don't have an actual emergency, but we have to help them all the same. I am trained to do it all, including CPR and medical instruction. I personally won't walk you through chest compressions, or delivering a baby, (In my city that's the Fire Department's job). But I am trained to do it if I ever need to.

I've had my share of stupid calls, and quite a few that stopped my heart. In the past 7 years I've worked through the 2002 Olympics, the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart, the murder of Lori Hacking and Destiny Norton and the Trolley Square Massacre. While I may not have been on duty for each of these, they did happen in my agency and tend to affect us all the same. I love my job and hate my job, and sometimes forget how important my job is until I hear things like this:
http://real.ksl.com/video/slc/1/171/17150.mp3

This is what I live for!