Police officers, firefighters and EMT’s are known as first responders because they're the first to respond on scene after a call. But that emergency call always begins with a job not many people see.
911 dispatchers work with police and emergency crews to provide quick responses to emergencies.
TMJ4’s Symone Woolridge visited the communications center in Racine County to learn about dispatchers and their day-to-day workload.
“It’s pretty overwhelming,” dispatcher Amy Kopatic said. “How many calls we take on a daily basis is pretty insane. I really thought you would be answering a few phone calls here and there. I didn't know.”
Amy has been working in the call center for 14 years. Her mother was also a dispatcher.
No matter the call, dispatchers always have to be the calm voice on the other end of the phone line. They understand sometimes when their phone rings, they’ll be faced with a critical situation.
“The hardest ones are the ones where people have hurt themselves or a family member has discovered a loved one that has passed.”
Amy said she tries to be as reassuring as possible, because many of us can relate to losing a loved one.
“Do you ever have those moments where you go home and it's just like, sigh?” Symone asked.
“Yeah, I do on occasion,” Amy said. “I just kind of shut down and just want to stare at the wall and not talk but yeah, you get through it. It seems unnatural but we have to dig deep and be strong for these calls because we can't afford to break down on people.”
The dispatchers are on a rotating system where they move around and work with departments like fire and rescue, the police department or sheriff’s office. No person sits in the same chair for more than four hours at a time.
"We can look at our phone map and see how well of a ping it's giving us,” Amy said as she showed her computer screen.
Dispatchers have something called Rapid SOS where the number of the caller is shown, and they’re able to see the caller’s last location.
"It's a pretty accurate system and it's a great tool for us to have, especially if somebody is calling 911 and is just screaming or just yelling. An example- just saying ‘get somebody here’ and they're giving us no address.”
Dispatchers said the most important thing you can do as a caller, in an emergency, is to not assume dispatchers know exactly where you are. Tell them your exact location.
“No job you would say, in here, is more critical than the other, right?” Symone asked.
“No. I would not say that. That's very fair because everybody is doing their part,” Amy replied.
Amy’s colleague Adriana Berrones has been a dispatcher in Racine County for about a year. For three years she did the same job in Cudahy but after switching over, she said it doesn’t compare.
Before getting comfortable in her workflow. Adriana was initially intimidated and overwhelmed by the nature of the calls in Racine.
"It’s completely different when somebody has a real emergency, and you have to get your calls in very timely and very quickly,” Adriana said.
Her sister works in the dispatch center also. In fact, she’s the one who spoke highly of the department which sparked Adriana’s interest.
“Sometimes you just have silent car rides home or sometimes you just got to blast your music with the windows down. It really just depends on the kind of day, but you really have to take care of yourself outside of this room.”
TMJ4 listened to radio traffic audio, 911 calls and body camera videos from a few incidents within the last year, given to us by the director of the Racine County Communications Center.
“911 where is your emergency?” Adriana asked a caller.
“Somebody collapsed. I think they're having a seizure,” the caller responded.
“Are they breathing?”
“She's turning purple.”
“She's turning purple? Okay, stay on the line with me. Get her on the ground if she's turning purple then we have to do CPR.”
Adriana stayed on the line until first responders arrived.
Amy can relate to moments like these. She said the unknown of who and what’s on the end of the line, is something you always have to be understanding of.
“Prepare for anything. You just never know what's going to be on the other side of the call that you get.”
The unknown is also a big part of officers' jobs, depending on the call.
"Please don't do this. Drop the gun,” an officer said in intense body camera video. “We’re both 24! Our families want us home.”
The officers were on scene, pleading with a suspect for hours before a shooting last year.
“What do you think is the biggest misconception about your job?” Symone asked Amy.
“That's a really good question. I wish people could see a little bit more about what our officers and deputies do on a daily basis,” Amy answered. “I wish they could see what they're up against and have a little bit more compassion for them because what they do is just incredible. It's not too dramatic to say they don't know if they're going to coming home.”
Aside from the serious calls dispatchers receive, they said they also get some interesting ones. An example: restaurant customers calling 911 because their food isn’t hot enough or because their order isn’t correct.
If officers are forced to respond, important resources are being used.
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