Normally I'd be posting about Christmas right now. I'm a big Christmas person, have always loved the season and all that it symbolizes. I've loved both the secular and religious parts of the holiday. That will be a blog post for a different day. For today I want to speak specifically to those I work with. The responders...the men and women I work with daily who go out and put the uniform on. Whether you are a police officer, firefighter or EMT, this post is directed to you.
I was reminded, somewhat harshly recently, of the awesome responsibility I have each day when I go to work. In nearly 17 years doing this job it's something I have always had in the back of my mind. I've always known it, and I've always tried to make sure I live up to that responsibility. However, in light of the events over the past few months, and more specifically over the last few days, I felt the need to put this out there.
Each day when you go to work you rely on your partners to be there for you, to back you up, to "have your six". You also rely on me. You rely on your dispatcher. Your wives, your husbands, your girlfriends, your boyfriends, your parents, your children; anyone who cares about you, rely on me. Part of my responsibility, sitting here in this room, surrounded by locked doors and what they tell me are bullet proof windows, is to do everything I can to make sure you go home safe at the end of your shift.
Some of you are people I've built relationships with. Some of you I know only as a badge number or a crew member. I may or may not have met your family, they may or may not have met me, yet they put their most precious possession in my care, your safety.
So to all of you, and to all of your loved ones, I make these promises:
From behind my mic and through my phone, I will do everything in my power to keep you safe.
I will ask the questions that need to be asked.
I will make sure I understand you when you tell me where you are, and I will ask you to repeat that location as many times as it takes to make sure I've got it right.
I will relay to you any information I find to enhance your safety.
No matter how many times you tell me you don't need to be checked up on...I WILL continue to check up on you.
To all of you I have some very simple requests:
Tell me where you are. You can be as upset with me as you want when I ask you to repeat your location. There can be any number of reasons why I need you to repeat that location, none of them will be that I wasn't paying attention. Be as upset with me as you want for asking you to repeat it, but repeat it.
Speak as clearly as you can in to your mic. Again, if I ask you to repeat something, it's not because I'm not paying attention. Nothing beats speaking directly in to the mic. I know conditions are not usually the best on your end, and you're trying to get the information out there quickly, while not taking your eyes off a suspect, trying to drive, wind blowing through your mic and sirens in the background. All of these are conditions that neither one of us can do anything about. So again, feel free to be upset with me all you want if I ask you to repeat something, but repeat it.
If I send you with backup on a call, don't cancel the backup until you're sure they're not needed. Please please please, let your backup keep coming until you are 100% sure they will not be needed. When I call someone back who's hung up on 9-1-1, they are probably going to say it was an accident. They usually do, and I pass that on to you. I know you know this, but please remember...the person who answered my call back may very well be the reason 9-1-1 got called in the first place, and now they know it's been called, and now they know you're on the way to their house. So, take the backup.
Watch out for each other. I can do only so much from inside this room and behind this mic.
Please be safe. Please know that most people out there really respect what you do. It may not seem that way sometimes, but they do. Right now it's the ones who don't that are getting all the press.
I was reminded, somewhat harshly recently, of the awesome responsibility I have each day when I go to work. In nearly 17 years doing this job it's something I have always had in the back of my mind. I've always known it, and I've always tried to make sure I live up to that responsibility. However, in light of the events over the past few months, and more specifically over the last few days, I felt the need to put this out there.
Each day when you go to work you rely on your partners to be there for you, to back you up, to "have your six". You also rely on me. You rely on your dispatcher. Your wives, your husbands, your girlfriends, your boyfriends, your parents, your children; anyone who cares about you, rely on me. Part of my responsibility, sitting here in this room, surrounded by locked doors and what they tell me are bullet proof windows, is to do everything I can to make sure you go home safe at the end of your shift.
Some of you are people I've built relationships with. Some of you I know only as a badge number or a crew member. I may or may not have met your family, they may or may not have met me, yet they put their most precious possession in my care, your safety.
So to all of you, and to all of your loved ones, I make these promises:
From behind my mic and through my phone, I will do everything in my power to keep you safe.
I will ask the questions that need to be asked.
I will make sure I understand you when you tell me where you are, and I will ask you to repeat that location as many times as it takes to make sure I've got it right.
I will relay to you any information I find to enhance your safety.
No matter how many times you tell me you don't need to be checked up on...I WILL continue to check up on you.
To all of you I have some very simple requests:
Tell me where you are. You can be as upset with me as you want when I ask you to repeat your location. There can be any number of reasons why I need you to repeat that location, none of them will be that I wasn't paying attention. Be as upset with me as you want for asking you to repeat it, but repeat it.
Speak as clearly as you can in to your mic. Again, if I ask you to repeat something, it's not because I'm not paying attention. Nothing beats speaking directly in to the mic. I know conditions are not usually the best on your end, and you're trying to get the information out there quickly, while not taking your eyes off a suspect, trying to drive, wind blowing through your mic and sirens in the background. All of these are conditions that neither one of us can do anything about. So again, feel free to be upset with me all you want if I ask you to repeat something, but repeat it.
If I send you with backup on a call, don't cancel the backup until you're sure they're not needed. Please please please, let your backup keep coming until you are 100% sure they will not be needed. When I call someone back who's hung up on 9-1-1, they are probably going to say it was an accident. They usually do, and I pass that on to you. I know you know this, but please remember...the person who answered my call back may very well be the reason 9-1-1 got called in the first place, and now they know it's been called, and now they know you're on the way to their house. So, take the backup.
Watch out for each other. I can do only so much from inside this room and behind this mic.
Please be safe. Please know that most people out there really respect what you do. It may not seem that way sometimes, but they do. Right now it's the ones who don't that are getting all the press.
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