Burl Co Dispatch, somebody needs to say it

[howie38]

Burlington County must have the most unprofessional dispatchers around. I have heard them giggle while dispatching. I've heard their personal phones alerting them of a text or tweet and even heard them stop in the middle of the dispatch like they were reading it.

 

[KC3ECJ]

Burlington County must have the most unprofessional dispatchers around. I have heard them giggle while dispatching. I've heard their personal phones alerting them of a text or tweet and even heard them stop in the middle of the dispatch like they were reading it.

Not in this county, but I've had 911 call takers be rude or not knowledgeable about what they do.
Such as me calling 911 and not being aware other people called about what I was calling about and getting attitude for it.

Or my cellphone connects to a tower and the 911 in the neighboring county, rather than the county I'm calling about, and somehow that's my fault.

 

[ka3aaa]

well thats the way is these days weather we like it or not.

 

[NParkNJ]

Up here it doesn’t seem like that. I’ve called into stuff just dispatched, including today and besides the dispatchers I know, they are usually attentive and happy for info. Never heard any of the stuff you mentioned. But I suppose it’s different everywhere.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

even heard them stop in the middle of the dispatch like they were reading it.

Arem't they supposed to "read" it? (address, notes, etc)
I called in a tipped over port-a-potty blocking traffic at night time in my former town of residence (not Burlco). Call taker just laughed at me and hung up, never sent it to the dispatcher. About an hour later while listening to my local PD I heard a cop radio it in as if he discovered it himself

 

[kd2pm]

That would never fly in Monmouth Co!

 

[howie38]

Arem't they supposed to "read" it? (address, notes, etc)
I called in a tipped over port-a-potty blocking traffic at night time in my former town of residence (not Burlco). Call taker just laughed at me and hung up, never sent it to the dispatcher. About an hour later while listening to my local PD I heard a cop radio it in as if he discovered it himself

I'm talking about their phone.

 

[Giddyuptd]

I believe there is policies on ncic and other sensitive systems where uncontrolled items are prohibited. Such as screen shoting a picture of the screen etc. Most don't have the issues but I have known some to have it and ended up having surveillance installed in in dispatch room.

None the less most dispatchers are very multitasking capable beyond one's imagination. Specially well seasoned ones.

In that type of work they do have and get ptsd and are human. Those little laughs and small breaks may be what keeps them sane.

Also most programs use and have the same tones and notifications as a cell would and if the users are on firstnet to issued dept cells left in dispatch it is possible youre hearing these and not personnel phones. These cell phones allow dispatch to have direct means to supervisors or other applications. Even tablets in dispatch issued are in use in many places. You may think its Twitter but it could be their local messaging application between another or other items used during a shift.

 

[Giddyuptd]

One could also consider the agencies solution to complaints on the issue which isn't a hard thing to address anymore these days. Just food for thought.

 

[Skypilot007]

They do a good job despite some short comings (Audio quality, not entirely their fault). They're overworked and under paid so...things will happen sometimes.

 

[howie38]

I believe there is policies on ncic and other sensitive systems where uncontrolled items are prohibited. Such as screen shoting a picture of the screen etc. Most don't have the issues but I have known some to have it and ended up having surveillance installed in in dispatch room.

None the less most dispatchers are very multitasking capable beyond one's imagination. Specially well seasoned ones.

In that type of work they do have and get ptsd and are human. Those little laughs and small breaks may be what keeps them sane.

Also most programs use and have the same tones and notifications as a cell would and if the users are on firstnet to issued dept cells left in dispatch it is possible youre hearing these and not personnel phones. These cell phones allow dispatch to have direct means to supervisors or other applications. Even tablets in dispatch issued are in use in many places. You may think its Twitter but it could be their local messaging application between another or other items used during a shift.

Listen to Ocean, Camden, Mercer & Bucks and you don't hear any of that. Along with a strong & clear dispatch.

 

[jimmie13]

Listen to Ocean, Camden, Mercer & Bucks and you don't hear any of that. Along with a strong & clear dispatch.

They're just overworked over there

 

[Skypilot007]

Listen to Ocean, Camden, Mercer & Bucks and you don't hear any of that. Along with a strong & clear dispatch.

You have understand that the audio issues you may be hearing with a scanner may or may not be present on a system subscriber radio, depends how they were configured. The system radios have far better receivers and audio leveling features that scanners don't have. I'd say 99.5% of the time the audio I hear from this system on my commercial radio is acceptable.

 

[tonemaster]

Oh look, another person bashing Central and lumping everyone together for someone(s) "behavior" they feel is unprofessional. If an operator is sitting there for 12 hours straight and are human a couple times during their shift, it’s the end of the world and enough to warrant a rant post?

This is why I stay monotonous when I’m dispatching and don’t give a **** what the outside world thinks anymore. The apparatus still hits the street and incidents get handled. Listen up tomorrow midday and come up with a better reason to *****.

 

[Steve162]

Oh look, another person bashing Central and lumping everyone together for someone(s) "behavior" they feel is unprofessional. If an operator is sitting there for 12 hours straight and are human a couple times during their shift, it’s the end of the world and enough to warrant a rant post?

This is why I stay monotonous when I’m dispatching and don’t give a **** what the outside world thinks anymore. The apparatus still hits the street and incidents get handled. Listen up tomorrow midday and come up with a better reason to *****.

They most certainly do sound overworked. Often when acknowleding a unit they cut off the tail end of the transmission, as if they're handling multiple radio channels and/or taking 911 or other incoming calls.

As for the occasional giggle or other non-offical behaviors, well, they're human and sometimes something will happen in the center that one cannot help but react to.

Alleged cellphone messages cannot be attributed solely to the dispatcher's phone. Those sounds could come from anywhere, even one of the computers being used.

One cannot judge another until he has walked a mile in the other's shoes. That way, when they do judge them, they're a mile away and they have their shoes!

 

[howie38]

Oh look, another person bashing Central and lumping everyone together for someone(s) "behavior" they feel is unprofessional. If an operator is sitting there for 12 hours straight and are human a couple times during their shift, it’s the end of the world and enough to warrant a rant post?

This is why I stay monotonous when I’m dispatching and don’t give a **** what the outside world thinks anymore. The apparatus still hits the street and incidents get handled. Listen up tomorrow midday and come up with a better reason to *****.

I listen to Ocean, Bucks, Mercer, Camden, and even Philly (since the 70's) and never heard that stuff. And the cell phone text alerts are distinctive with that whistle that a lot of folks use or the other popular 'bubble' sound many uses. Sometimes they even hesitate in the middle of a dispatch, like they were checking their phone. It seems to be better since I've posted this.

 

[wnjl]

As someone who has listened to Burlco every day since 1996 (and has zero connection to anyone at central, I have no dog in the fight), I couldn't disagree more and think this is just an awful take. I think the county, as a whole, is one of the more professional operations around. I've never heard anything remotely like "reading a tweet" during a dispatch. As someone else said, these are overworked, underpaid individuals, and as a listener, I absolutely love the moments of brevity and it reveals these folks as human. But they are 100% on top of things and in my opinion are miles ahead of several other regional counties.

This thread just really bothered me. Again I don't know any of these people but several of these voices have been the same since I started monitoring and they are absolute pros. Honestly, get a clue!

 

[jmp883]

I’m in my 30th year of dispatching. I worked for an agency that had 4-6 dispatchers on duty each shift. I currently work for an agency where there is only 1 dispatcher on duty each shift. In both agencies we dispatched PD, FD, and EMS.

I always maintain a professional atmosphere in the radio room. When I train a new dispatcher one of the first things I tell them is that all our phone lines and radio channels are recorded. I also let them know that, between private citizens and other agencies, many people may be listening to us. Keep background noise to a minimum, keep cellphones off (or on vibrate), and keep non-communication personnel traffic through the radio room to a minimum. Over my years of dispatching I really can't recall any issues that made either of the agencies I worked for sound bad.

That's not to say it was totally sterile on the air. We did have occasions to have fun in the radio room while working, and sometimes that fun made it to the air. However those episodes were brief and didn't happen on a regular basis. I don't know if the OP has dispatch experience but I think it is unfair to expect a dispatcher(s) to be totally cold and sterile sounding on the radio. I have heard unprofessional activity over the years, most notably on SPEN-1, but I think that that behavior is the exception, not the norm.

 

[ten13]

You get what you pay for.......!

 

[jmp883]

ten13 wrote:

You get what you pay for.......!

I won't argue with that...this is not the best paying career. Between that, and the fact that many people become dispatchers as a stepping stone to becoming a law enforcement officer there is not a lot of stability in most radio rooms. I believe that is a factor in the less-than-professional atmosphere that is sometimes heard in some radio rooms.

Fortunately the low-pay trend has started to change. More and more departments are realizing that dispatchers need to be compensated appropriately for the amount of responsibility they shoulder. I'm lucky, my department understands what we do and I have a salary that I feel is appropriate for what I do. Unfortunately the other agency I used to work for is still paying their people poorly. I understand from people I still know there that the pay scale is very close to what it was when I worked there in the mid 1990's! Even back then what they were paying was below what most people could live on. I was single at the time and needed to work a second job to make enough to pay my bills. That they are still paying the same 30 years later is unacceptable, especially since that agency is at least 3 times larger than where I work now, they answer 9-1-1 (my agency contracts another agency to answer our 9-1-1's), and has a day time population of over 100,000 people.

Even if all the issues that dispatchers face were successfully resolved there will always be some unprofessional types behind the mic.