The Union Leader
BEDFORD, N.H. — Police dispatcher Nicole Jones may answer phone calls for a living, but her job is anything but dull.
“The excitement makes it fun; it’s just a good experience,” Jones said. “You never get the same thing . . . .”
Cut off mid-sentence by the crackle of the police radio, Jones stopped to listen to a call from an officer on patrol. After hearing the officer’s brief description of a car blocking a construction site, Jones finished her thought.
“They’re always very interesting. I mean we go from dog calls to burning houses,” Jones said, referring to the dozens of calls she receives every day. “We just always have to be aware of everything at all times, just where everyone is, where everyone’s going, make sure we have everyone on the scene.”
In Bedford, Jones and six other full-time dispatchers function as the central nervous system for the town’s police and fire departments, a vital link between safety officers and the residents they protect and serve. In 2009, Bedford’s dispatch center fielded tens of thousands of calls, 20,000 of which were followed up directly by police or fire officials.
This week, during National Public Safety Telecommunications Week, dispatchers in Bedford and across the country are being recognized for the crucial role they play. In Bedford, officials are offering tours of the dispatch center for interested residents.
Late yesterday morning, Bedford’s dispatch center was relatively quiet, with Jones and another dispatcher taking calls and updating information in the department’s computer system. Both dispatchers sat at side-by-side work stations, each monitoring five large computer screens connected to department, state and national databases.
For dispatcher Catherine Hackett, the sheer quantity of that information was bewildering when she first started as a dispatcher in Bedford 14 years ago.
“You’re like, ‘Oh my God, there’s so much,’” Hackett said. “But as you do it every day, it becomes routine. Actually, if I came in and one of my screens were missing, I’d go ‘Oh my goodness; where’s the screen?’”
Yesterday morning, Hackett took a call from a resident who reported losing her cat a week ago and wanted to find out whether anyone had recovered it. Hackett used one of her five computers to search the department’s records for the past week, but came up empty.
While yesterday morning may have been slow, there are times when the system is overrun with calls, with dispatchers working feverishly to stay on track. Hackett said weather such as the recent windstorm can transform the office into a hive of activity.
“The phones are off the hook. Sometimes our power goes out, and then we have to wait for the generator to kick on, and all the computers crash,” Hackett said. “We get them back up and going and everyone wants to know when their power is coming back on.”
In taking such a large number of calls from the public -- including non-emergency calls -- dispatchers act as a vital two-way filter between the safety officials and the public.
“The dispatcher is the intermediary between the public and the police and fire departments,” said Patricia Naimo, Bedford’s communications supervisor. “They’re the ones in the middle.”
Lt. Rob Gagliardi, who oversees the communications operation, agreed that dispatch performs a critical public service.
“They are the heart and soul of the police department,” Gagliardi said. “They’re the first contact for the public when people call.”
Dispatch is also a vital link to officers out in the field, Gagliardi said, as they rely on dispatchers to provide information that may ultimately save lives, including their own.
“They really are the lifeline,” Gagliardi said. “Any time a policeman calls for help, they’re the ones that hear it first.”
Copyright 2010 The Union Leader