What would you have done?
Well once again we are in the middle of chaos! OEMC has for the past 2 weeks been in the newspaper in some not so good articles. It is easy to say well I would of simulcasted that call, or I would not have given lunches out, or I would've put a backlog in the minute I sat down, but what it comes down to is NOBODY knows unless you are put in that situation. One thing is for certain, the 8th district is far too large for what they give us as far as cars to dispatch to. That district needs to be cut in half. At this point what is done is done and there is no way to go back and change what happened. But in the future please dispatchers, put those raps in asap, watch your p's and q's and here's a big one, make your cars go on the air with any transmission instead of that pdt. Like it was told at a roll call, you can party all you want with them, but in the end if a beef comes down, do you really think the guy on the other end of the radio has your back?
posted by oldschoolcos @ 7/18/2007 03:31:00 PM
15 Comments:
At 18 July, 2007 21:33 ,
Anonymous said...
Its in the Trib now.
Hope no harm comes to em if they are regulars on that stress zoo. There is not a more stressful position in the room than 3rd watch on zone 6.
And if this is the regulars there, its beyond pointless to go out of the way to impose discipline. There are very, very few people in the room or in society generally who can handle zone 6 well, and sitting on that monster is punishment for anyone's past sins cumulatively.
I hope there is no malfeasance to be found beyond the normal no-car-available in 008.
At 19 July, 2007 00:03 ,
Anonymous said...
of course it's easy to "monday-morning quarterback" but 805 was available. and not given the job.
At 19 July, 2007 03:17 ,
Anonymous said...
They are not "your cars" and you really can't make them do anything. As far as I thought, those cars belong to the watch commander of the district. It should be a sgt. or above to "make" the cars and the guys working them do anything.
But don't worry, in the end, I promise you the police will be blamed.
At 19 July, 2007 11:48 ,
Anonymous said...
now how can you promise that? CPD will say they are doing the best they can to increase staffing, but when the time for sacrifice does come, I hate to say it, but it will be the dispatchers who get hung on the cross.
At 19 July, 2007 12:42 ,
Anonymous said...
Zone 6 3rd watch is the busiest place to be in the city. It is never ending chaos. But the dispatchers involved were from midnights, which is also pretty busy. The main problem midnights has on the zone is that they sit down to the chaos that 3rd watch gets to leave behind. This incident happened about 20-30 mins into their shift, which means shift change for the cars.....and getting a rap in as quickly as possible is easeir said than done. If they broadcasted the priorities then why didn't 805 or the cars that went down on lunch go there instead. It is not all the fault of the dispatcher.....if there were cars available and they hear the broadcast they should have gotten off their a@$es and went to that call. During that time of chaos at Durkin park don't you think that there was other priorities pending also. I mean truth of the matter is that batip, pergun, shotsf, and persho are everyday, every hour, every minute occurances.........these things happen so often that it's hard to even realize what is happening when the s#^t hits the fan. And where were the sgts, they are responsible to, they can see what we see very easliy. And what about the white shirts in the 911 center, what about their response.... after 10, 20 , 30, maybe even 40 calls comes across the marquee for the same address, maybe they should have gotten off their butts and walked over to see if everything was ok. There are so many people that could have done more and these dispatchers are getting crusified......and it's sad that their own co-workers are doing it too....do you work zone 6 day in and day out? Better yet do you know what happened that day , were you there? Then stop bashing these people and get the facts before you tell everyone about how they could have done better. The both of them are damn good dispatchers and i hope that we can all be there in their time of need to back them up.
At 19 July, 2007 18:53 ,
Anonymous said...
I'm a detective in Area 2 and I feel for all of you dispatchers. You guys are going to take the fall for this....no doubt about it. This city always looks for some lower level employee to hang the blame on. I looked at the calls from the Durkin Park incident. Sure it probably could have been handled better from a dispatching point of view but Monday morning quarterbacking is always easy. As someone said earlier, battery in progress, man with a gun, shots fired.....all routine calls that keep coming all night. If everyone was sent to the park...someone else would not be getting police service. The real problem that dispatchers and POs have no control over is badly aligned beats, too few police, and the bs smoke and mirrors approach to policng that we've been forced to swallow under Kline and Williams. They think they can make up for low manpower by flooding certain areas with "special units" and borrowing from slower districts. They're playing with fire and last Friday they got burned. Unfortunately it's the zone 6 dispatchers who are going to take the heat. I'm sorry it's got to be you. Next time it might be me......what we do know it won't be the real people responsible for this mess that take the blame. You know what???? If the dispatchers were still taking the calls and speaking to the callers this probably wouldn't have escalated to the point it did.
Keep your chins up and believe me, most of us are aware of where the blame really lies.
At 19 July, 2007 21:22 ,
Anonymous said...
if this had happened in 007, 006, 002, or just about any other place in the city nothing would have been said... but because it happened in an area where the citizens feel they are extra special because they bought the houses they grew up in and refuse to realize that the neighborhood is changing or has actually changed they feel the police department and the OEMC need to cater to them and only them... zone 6 is brutal and the dispatchers there take an ass kicking everyday... let's get the alderman up into the room and have her sit and dispatch the police, or how about the citizens..?? they all seem to know the way it should be done... hell, maybe they can use some special power of their's and pull a few extra cars and a wagon or two out of their asses... until they have worked a busy zone like 6 on a warm summer night they have no room to criticize how or why a dispatcher does something... we do the best we can with the man power we have on the street (and I apologize to the PO's for the way we are forced to abuse you all, thank you for putting up and fighting the same fire we are fighting with a squirt gun)... not one of those citizens, or any alderman in the city could last more than 5 minutes on a busy zone... I for one have no problem standing with the 2 from the zone on Saturday... I am with them all the way
At 19 July, 2007 22:20 ,
Anonymous said...
9:22 you are one racist person!!! "extra Special" people?? r u nuts!! that poor kid from de la salle was getting his ass beat and police were not given the call for 20 minutes--in the mean time the 15 year old kid ran over 8 people--it never would have escalated that far if police were dispatched and on the scene--hello wake up!!
i dont care where this happened citizens everywhere would be appalled
At 19 July, 2007 22:55 ,
Anonymous said...
Thats the whole point. It was not broadcasted!
and what do you mean the chaos that 3rd watch gets to leave behind. We worked our 8 hours. You leave at 0600 , dont you???
2nd of all..have u even been on the operations floor. At 10-10:30 the supervisors are usually at the desk working on the sheets and the banner board faces the other way.
At 19 July, 2007 23:45 ,
Anonymous said...
Hey 9:22, this kind of stuff happens all the time in 007, Ogden Park. (my favorite is when they try to drown each other in the pool) The only difference is there's like 5 cars driving around Ogden Park. But in the areas where you claim citizens feel "extra special", there are almost zero cars anywhere near because all the other cars and outside units are too busy patrolling 007, 006, 002 and all the other ghetto districts or sectors. This happen because the "extra special" people and their hoods hardly ever see a squad car drive around. But beat 724 see's three different units of squad cars drive by every ten minutes. I live on Bt. 2211 and never seen the beat car drive on my street.
- A P/O who has fought in Ogden Park.
At 20 July, 2007 21:32 ,
Anonymous said...
Just to set the record straight i thing that the dispatchers on 3rd and 1st watch on zone six are the best and most talented dispatchers on the job. they always have there stuff together and are extremly helpful when you need it. I think its a bunch of crap that a dispatcher needs to get suspended for this incident, but i know that this will all pass and you guys will be ok. we really appreciate everything that you boys and girls do up there and i can only say to turn a blind eye to the media and dont let it get to you. To the dispatchers of zone 6 on all three watches keep up the good work... after all you walk into chaos along with us every single day when you sit down and have to put up with our crap too. thanks again, 3rd watch copper from 008.
At 20 July, 2007 21:51 ,
Anonymous said...
First off 99% of you I applaud. With almost 20 years on the job I can honestly say I consider all of you a partner, in that, you have gotten me home safe and I thank you.
It's incredibly fustrating trying to work in the districts with the amount of manpower we have to work with. Notice I don't say shortage. Many have said this and because it makes sense, it will never happen. Put officers back on the street to answer calls and do reports. I lost count of the times I try and get the zone out of a backlog, running back and forth, trying to code out jobs, only to see the backlog get longer and longer. I see what the zone is holding and damn if I can do anything about it. When schools let out, if I lose two cars because their in on an arrest, I'm screwed. Because the remainder of my men and women are babysitting the thugs that exit the schools preying on the good kids and citizens. My officers do the best they can but even still, they are getting burnt out, running back and forth, from one end of the district to the other. Ok, if the department insists on specialized units and caps offices and insiders at HQ's, at least reduce the number a little and put em back in patrol during the summer months.
There are so many issues in the department that need to be overhauled and changed it's incredible. From the redesigning of case reports, to the technical, and manpower issues. When the schools begin again, how bout staggering the start times of the TRU unit to cover the dismissals? This way the district personal can then be free to answer the calls generated in the district. Why do all of us in patrol as well as you see this, but those who can change the way we do things, can't or refuse to? Ok, maybe a rhetorical question here.
Ok sorry for the long comment, but, thanks again, and keep that chin up.
At 22 July, 2007 04:13 ,
Anonymous said...
dispatch blame your boss who should off taken it up with daley, dispatchers i know,dispach immediatley, the whole city is a joke.
At 23 July, 2007 11:01 ,
Anonymous said...
Dispatchers , notify Sgt.'s when you have beat cars down over 30min
on a bs call. It's their responsibility but they don't do their jobs. As a working po I bring this up all the time and they ignore it.
At 23 July, 2007 16:42 ,
Anonymous said...
Yeah, I'm sure you do. You must be a pleasure to work with,if you are in fact the police.
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