Who was the N. Hlywd Shootout Dispatcher?

[GrandpaFrank]

I was just listening (again) to the audio feed of the North Hollywood bank robbery shootout and it still makes my adrenalin rise. I was wondering if anyone knows who that great dispatcher is? That lady is keeping her cool when it sounds like a war zone on the other end. Whoever she is, she deserves an award.

 

[Radio_Lady]

I was just listening (again) to the audio feed of the North Hollywood bank robbery shootout and it still makes my adrenalin rise. I was wondering if anyone knows who that great dispatcher is? That lady is keeping her cool when it sounds like a war zone on the other end.

For the first five or ten minutes of the incident, the NHwd RTO you hear was PSR Johanna Ramirez. By then she had so much going on that they had pulled one of the calltaker PSRs from a 9-1-1 phone board, Tonja Bellard, to help her out. One of them did most of the note-taking (the computer couldn't keep up) and the other did the broadcasting. Tonja ended up being the NHwd radio voice for the rest of it.

The Van Nuys RTO was Guadalupe de la Cruz, but her voice is heard only occasionallly when she would multicast messages onto the NHwd-Fthl frequency, especially her transmissions to and about 9L89 who'd been shot and was falling in and out of consciousness, but was in the line of fire and unable to be rescued for almost the entire time.

Whoever she is, she deserves an award.

All of the RTOs who were involved got numerous award and commendations afterwards, both from within the department and outside. Lupe and Tonja were named "Person of the Week" by one of the TV network news programs, possibly Peter Jennings of ABC, and several of them were recognized by APCO at their annual convention.

 

[PJaxx]

I was just listening (again) to the audio feed of the North Hollywood bank robbery shootout and it still makes my adrenalin rise. I was wondering if anyone knows who that great dispatcher is? That lady is keeping her cool when it sounds like a war zone on the other end. Whoever she is, she deserves an award.

Listening to it, I noticed that all or almost all the dispatchers were women. I know I hear men dispatching for LAPD, but not too often. Do you know how many male RTO's they have, or are some of the dispatchers policemen? There are a lot of different accents too, so how are they broken down by race too, if you have any idea.

Just asking, because LAPD dispatchers sound very diverse compared to other PD's.

 

[KMA367]

Listening to it, I noticed that all or almost all the dispatchers were women. I know I hear men dispatching for LAPD, but not too often. Do you know how many male RTO's they have, or are some of the dispatchers policemen? There are a lot of different accents too, so how are they broken down by race too, if you have any idea.

Back in my day, stress and alcohol were bigger factors in broken-down RTOs than race and sex. But seriously, as of last month there were 670 PSRs, and of those 110, or 16% were male. Contrasted to 1970 when I was one of perhaps five male RTOs at most, among 120 or so females (4%). But somebody had to do it

There are no sworn officers assigned to dispatching, it's all civilian employees. AFAIK, there are only a dozen or so POs in Comm Div, including the Captain, about ten Lts and Sgts, and a couple Police Officers.

For ethnicity/descent (as self-identified by the employees) the numbers for PSRs and Senior PSRs, including those at Communications and at other assignments, the 8/12/2011 numbers were:

• Black - 256 (38%)
• Hispanic - 232 (35%)
• White - 123 (18%)
• Asian - 35 (5%)
• Filipino - 19 (3%)
• American Indian - 4 (0.59%)
• Other - 1 ((0.14%)

The 670 PSRs is 9% below what they're authorized, but because of the hiring freeze, last year's Early Retirement lure, and normal retirements and attrition, there are currently about 63 fewer operators to answer the incoming calls and dispatch the units.