I took my psych evaluation and physical this past Tuesday. I had hopes of hearing from them by Wednesday because of how forward they were about my start date and being eager about me starting as early as a December. This is not an easy agency to get into at all and the only reason this position is open is because someone is retiring. I’m completely in my head about them not liking the results of my psych evaluation due to my mental health past. I did have one stint in a psych unit back in 2016 and have been on medication and in therapy ever since. I was open and honest about that before my psych evaluation. Does anyone think that the delay could be due to it being the week of thanksgiving?

After going through 4 months of the onboarding process of being hired by the sheriffs office, my application was terminated because of my background investigation and I’m disqualified from applying for at least 3 years… after the criticall, pre-medical evaluation, sitting in a social security office for 3 hours to just add my middle name to my social security card, a 20 page polygraph packet, and the polygraph. I took the criticall 3 times because I failed it the first 2. The polygraph packet and personal history questionnaire was appalling and unfair. I’ve filled out high level federal background investigation packets that were less invasive.

I requested my background summary and was extremely upset by what I read. All the things I was most ashamed of were on that paper and my worst fear came true. I was rejected because of my mental health (PTSD and depression) I was in treatment for suicidal ideations for 2 years (which I disclosed) but did not expect to see all the times I was told I wasn’t being put on a 72 hour hold I actually was being put on a 72 involuntary hold despite going “voluntarily”. Should I give up on being a dispatcher all together given my background? Am I barking up the wrong tree in general in terms of going into the field of security, dispatch, emergency medicine, and death investigation?

I interned for the county medical examiners office for a year and had a great time. I’m also a licensed EMT and I didn’t like that as much. I have a BA in criminology as well.

Anyone have any examples of questions they’ve been asked of behavioural questions dealing with stress, difficult people or stressful situations also some scenario based questions that pertain to the position.

Anyone using PremierOne with an ASAP to PSAP interface?

My agency is looking into using it. How many alarm calls would you say you still get from alarm companies that don’t use it? Is it worth it?

And if you administer P1 for your agency, how bad was it to implement?

Thanks!

i’m qualified for call taking and now learning the dispatch portion. call taking was hard and there was times i thought i wouldn’t make it. but i want this job bad, and i love it so i told myself they’d have to fire me if they don’t want me here. now leaning dispatch i feel so much pressure and my evals make me feel so bad about myself. i know they have to be brutal. it’s life or death . but the language they use makes me feel like i will never learn.if you qualified were your evaluations tough to read?

I just got assigned to work Law Dispatch at my job and I’m very confident in my abilities except for radio ear. I’m already bad at hearing and actually understanding what people say. All my instructor says is it will come with time but I want to know is there more I can do to gain a better ear for listening to the responders?

Hello everyone!

I have been going through the process of becoming a dispatcher & Ive officially been scheduled for a panel interview. ive never been interviewed by several people at once & I would really appreciate any tips or advice if you've been through one of these before. thanks so much!

Hi everyone, just looking to get some things off my chest.

Ive been a dispatcher for just over a year now and it was a particularly difficult week for me. My first day back from days off I answered 911 and on the other end was a family member of mine, her 2 month old had passed from SIDS. I sent units to her address and then went home for the night while my partner took over. I took a day off to try and process, in hind sight I probably should've taken more time off. Last night, I took my first homicide call. I know I did everything I could have done for both of these callers but I feel so weighed down with all of these emotions.

Have you ever had a series of calls that just makes you wonder if you're in the right career field? I love my job and I wouldn't trade it for the world, but sometimes I wonder if I'm truly cut out for it

Okay, this may be a weird question, but I have been home with my young kids for the last 4 years or so and I’ve only taken seasonal or gig work in that entire time. Maybe I’m just self conscious about it, but I feel like my job experience is less than impressive. I’ve looked at a couple job postings (FOR 911 Dispatch) and prior EMT certification is preferred, so I was thinking of maybe trying something entry level in a related field while getting my certificate. (I was a hair stylist in my pre kid life, so I basically have a high school diploma and a can do attitude, so I mean really entry level.) Did any of you do something similar before you took this job or know of any jobs some people might not think to look for that are related?? I’d love any job that could give me any sort of leg up in trying to go for this position.

And yes, I know you can switch to this from any career path, but I figured if I’m going to be job hunting, I might as well consider ALL of my options.

I passed my test so not I get to sit next to a dispatcher for a couple hours and then I have my interview a week after that, any tips?

A local officer is on YouTube in a video. People are calling in to roast him, and cuss at us. Anyone else deal with this?

Hi there! I have passed my interview and have my psychological evaluation soon and I’m curious what to expect? I don’t live in the US though, so I’m wondering if there’s anyone non-US that would have any insight? (Actually, even if you’re based in the US I’m curious haha) thanks in advance!

I have a feeling that the holidays usually bring some memorable calls one way or another.

For everyone covering the consoles with me today, happy Thanksgiving! May your shifts be mellow, well-fed, and uneventful.

(… At least until Uncle Eddie switches from roast turkey to Wild Turkey.)

Our PD does a Christmas tree contest competing with the water,street, electric & fire department. I’ve only been here for a year but apparently the police department never wins the contest. What are some ideas that are SUPER creative to win?? For reference the water department had pipes filled with water going through their tree as “tinsel” the street department built a skid steer out of card board for their tree stand. So I really have to out do them.

Hi everyone. I've been thinking very hard about applying to be a dispatcher in my city. My current job is in a special education support role where I like certain aspects but feel that others aren't working for me. My observational skills, information gathering, and data entry are all pretty good for an Ed Tech. I would like to apply all of these to something more serious with more consistent hours and better pay. I also have previous experience as a Type II Firefighter and have learned things like radio etiquette and using strict procedures for communication over the course of my life. I can handle myself in stressful (and even crisis) situations provided that I'm personally not in immediate danger and I have adequate resources on hand for solving the problem. I've had panic attacks on the job when I was a firefighter back when we were walking into areas with fire-weakened trees on night shift, but I also never dropped out of a run in a field that's notorious for people quitting in the middle of the job.

That being said, my life has also been very colorful. I've traveled a lot and used to experiment with pretty typical party drugs like mushrooms and acid, but I stopped pretty early and now I won't even stay in the same room with marijuana. I've also been diagnosed with PTSD and BPD and many of my adult relationships were turbulent and short lived. I am in therapy now and have made significant strides in my interpersonal skills. With roommates it's also iffy, I'm a really Type A person with strong boundaries and I have mostly lived with people with different living styles, so it took a lot of communication to coexist. It's a lot better now and I have my shit pretty together, but I'm worried that all of this will come up in a background check and hurt my chances of employment despite my hard skills being there.

I otherwise have a clean criminal record and a clean driving record as well as no evictions and no debt.

Should I even bother applying, or is it the kind of thing where they want to see where I'm at now?

TLDR; What do they ask for and what are dealbreakers?

Is it just my agency, or have you all been noticing these issues lately? 1. Officers repeatedly keying up on the wrong channel. 2. Different officers asking the same question within minutes, even though I already provided the answer.

It’s been getting worse, more than usual, and it’s happening with both senior officers and newer solo officers. Curious if others are seeing similar trends, lol not even be a new thing anyways…

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of being hired. The agency is asking me for ALL FORMER ROOMMATES' information.

I'm a 35 year old person. No criminal record or anything, I am just wondering how far back I should go in my housing situations?

I have lived with a lot of people for under a year in rentals in my past. We're taking 10 years ago.

I don't want to hassle anyone for their current address or occupation/phone numbers, etc.

Any advice?

I'm not superstitious, I'll say it!

Hey everyone, I finally passed all my steps for dispatcher for CHP and I am officially waiting for a start date. I will be working through the state in San Diego.

I was wondering is anyone can provide onsite if the work culture ? Thanks!!

Well here we are again I have taken and passed critialcal four times and never make it past the mini interview. Is there a service that helps work on your interview skills that has specific dispatcher knowledge that any one knows of ? Thank you

Hello,

I wanted to get some information on the home visit piece of the background process. I was completely honest during the polygraph but now I’m worried about the type of information the investigator is going to bring up. (Polygraph examiner is different than the actual investigator) To be specific, I’m worried about them bringing up some of the worst things I’ve done in front of my spouse. The investigator said he’d assess and make the determination if I’m suited for employment and if so they’d relay that to the investigator but now as you can see I might be over thinking it.

Has anyone written the critical test recently for Toronto Police Services? I wrote mine on November 10th(almost two weeks). I haven't heard back yet. Is anyone moving to the next round? I'm wondering if I should just forget about it or if there's still hope that they may contact me.

Recently completed and passed the criticall test with a mini interview after that in Ontario! If anyone has gone through those steps, how long was your wait for the panel interview? any information will be helpful!

Attended career presentation back in February. After a grueling application process, failed my 1st attempt at Criticall but persisted to train and got a pass, after many stops and checks, I finally I got THE call and will be signing paperwork next Monday. I know the job will hard and I am ready for the challenge ahead, but taking this moment to reflecton the success and share my happiness. Glad to join 911 folk in this job. Lots of training ahead.

Hey yall! So I just was able to get signed up to take the written portion of the eccoms exam through NTN and I want to be as prepared as possible for it. Any suggestions on what I can do to best prepare myself for these tests?

Thank you in advance ❤️

I was a dispatcher for 4 years 20 years ago, and I've missed it ever since I left.

We were a small agency, 3-4 dispatchers on shift with a small shift of cops and fire/ems. Our county was so uneventful that on most shifts we watched movies (took 6 hours to watch a movie when pausing for traffic, though), played board games, and one night we even turned off the lights and had a karaoke party.

It wasn't unusual for the cops or fire/ems to come to the center and bring all of us coffee or donuts, or even leftover cake from a wedding at the town recreation hall. They'd hang out and tell us all the gossip, genuinely cared about us.

I miss the guys who got high on mushrooms in November and got lost in the national forest (that was a 6 hour call). I miss Jake pranking me running names and DOBs from a cemetery. I miss Allie calling up at 7 a.m. and telling me I was too damn perky for that early in the morning. I don't miss the cop who said he'd never protect me, after I had to write him up. I don't miss the call that made me leave. SIDS call, tried my best, can't get the dad's voice out of my head even these many years later.

I miss feeling like I was helping people.

I tried dispatching where I live now, but it's a 20-person shift with hundreds of personnel out in the field. I couldn't hack it. It wouldn't have felt the same anyway.

I chose Dispatcher Rant as the flair because Former Dispatcher isn't an option, haha. Thanks for reading my rambling.

This wait to find out if i got the job has been so stressful i just find myself checking my email throughout the day each day that passes i start to worry if im not getting the job

Hi guys, just a quick query from the UK to see if you have any insight over the Atlantic.

Our trust is still using AMPDS - the new update cc selection rules advise that any falls reported to be caused by dizziness, fainting etc should now be triaged on 17. We then often give the „go get a defib in case we need it later“ instruction depending on the coding. We also have the defib instruction for 30.

I had this the other day, triaged down 17, pt not alert. Then pt became unresponsive and stopped breathing, so click the deadeye button. Following that, there is then no further defib instructions unless you freelance it.

Equally, on cc selection, any sudden unexplained ground level collapse and not breathing should be a card 9. Does this mean that if we are maintaining the line on card 17, and the patient then arrests, we go back to case entry and amend to 9 in order to get the defib instructions? Even though deadeye-ing is quicker and changes the code straight away?

On a similar note, why are we in turn advising callers to go get a defib. I understand traumatic causes of cardiac arrests likely don’t need a defib, so why do we give it anyway in PDIs when, if they do arrest, proQa doesnt even give the instructions on these protocols?

Could somebody please explain the logic behind this?!