Back to Work

Well after returning from vacation I'm back to work...well sort of.  My first two days back to work after my weekend in Myrtle Beach were spent in training classes.  Crimes in Progress and Active Shooter classes for dispatchers.  Then this week I started my week in Xenia for a dispatcher training day.  The "highlight" of that training was a review of a tragic event and hearing the event from the perspective of the dispatchers working that day.  The event was the killing of Dep. Suzanne Hopper with the Clark Co. Sheriff's Office.  She was probably the first officer killed in the line of duty this year in a year that has seen an unusual amount of violence directed at police officers. 

For me, going to training outside of my own agency is a way to improve my skills, keep my skills up, and I'll admit to even relaxing a bit and being able to do a little networking with dispatchers from other departments, and seeing some people from other departments who I've met along the way over the last 13-14 years dispatching.   

But the best part of the last couple of weeks wasn't getting out away from the grind while still getting paid...it was taking a 9-1-1 call last Saturday.  Now usually taking 9-1-1 calls involves someone calling at a bad point in their life.  But this was a little different.  Imagine taking your wife to the hospital and having her give birth right in the car.  They didn't even have time to get pulled off to the side of the road.  She just gave birth while enroute.  So when dad called he decided that, rather than pull over and wait for a medic, he'd just drive on in to the hospital.  That turned out to be a pretty easy call...pretty much just involved staying on the phone with dad while he drove mom and baby to the hospital.  I was also able to radio ahead to the hospital and let them know what they had coming in to their ER.  Dad and mom both did a pretty good job of staying calm and everyone made it to the hospital safe.  It was a good day.