As I mentioned before, I have been involved in law enforcement for 6 years (since February of 1992).  I started out as a dispatcher for Police and Fire and did that for three years.  I then went to work for a private computer business and learned my computer skills while working part-time as a Police Officer.  In June of 1995 I was hired as interim 911 Director when the former director resigned and the 911 system underwent reorganization.  In April of 1996 I was hired as permanent full-time 911 Director for the City and County of Russell, Kansas and remain in that position.  I assisted in the reorganization of the 911 center.  When I say reorganization, I mean personnel as well as location.  We combined two dispatch centers into one central dispatch agency and changed locations.  During the process we also came online with ehanced 911 capability and a computer aided dispatch system.  The entire conversion and reorganization process took approximately a year from planning to implementation date and had to be carefully scrutinized. 

The City of Russell has a population of approximately 7000 people with a total county population of around 9000.  No, it's not a big City, but we still have our share of problems.  We have a major interstate running through the middle of our town and it draws a lot of people and crime in.  The dispatch center has 8 full-time dispatchers with two dispatchers on duty during peak times.  We take approximately 12-15,000 calls for service a year, most of which are of a non-emergency nature.  Our dispatch center serves the entire county of Russell for Police, 9 fire departments, a Sheriff's Office, 2 EMS services, City utility workers, animal control, Highway Patrol and Wildlife & Parks.  Our busiest time of the year is typically the summertime when the big thunderstorms and tornadoes are common.  Our call load usually triples to quadruples and it is not uncommon to take 2-300 calls for service in a few hours.  This may not seem like much compared to a big city, but when there are only two dispatchers to answer twelve 911 phone lines, 5 administrative phone lines and 8-10 channels of radio traffic it can be pretty hectic at times.  It's part of the job we do and we are proud of it.  I gotta hand it to the dispatchers.  Theirs is probably one of the most under-appreciated yet vitally important jobs there is.  They serve as the first contact for everyone...from people who are victims of rapes, stabbings, shootings & domestic violence to the people who are suspects of these crimes.  They have to know who to send and where to send them and have to do it quickly, calmly and competently.  This they do with little or no recognition and usually take the brunt of the initial anger and hostility from people whether it is on the phone or in person.  This is my personal and relatively insignificant thanks to all the dispatchers out there everywhere.