Dispatcher profiles

Learn more about a day in the life of a 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher. Discover why our Police Dispatchers live their passion and love what they do.

On this page

• Angela - Journey from actor to a 9-1-1 police dispatcher
• Mandy-Rae - Diving deep to help others
• Cassidy - 9-1-1 police dispatchers, literally, have lives on the line
• Bobby - 9-1-1 police dispatchers must be in control, not controlling
• North District - Active shooter in Vanderhoof: How 9-1-1 Police Dispatchers responded
• Kelowna - Crane collapses at a construction site causing massive damage
• Sharla - More than a voice at the end of the line
• Christina - We're a family
• André - It’s a calling
• Ginny - In a heartbeat
• Patricia - Going the extra mile
• Ezra - Just like playing a video game

Journey from actor to a 9-1-1 police dispatcher

Angela’s journey from actor to a 9-1-1 police dispatcher was not straight forward. In fact, if you had asked her 10 years ago where she would be today, police dispatcher was not on her radar.

But that was then and this is now. Angela is one of hundreds of BC RCMP police dispatchers who are being recognized across the country from April 13-19, 2025 during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

The former stage performer’s first love was acting. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Saskatchewan. When she graduated, she worked in professional theatre for 10 years and loved it. She acted, but she also dabbled in writing and directing. And then in late 2019/early 2020, COVID hit, and in Angela’s words, “the pandemic broke the performance industry and my income vanished overnight.”

By that time, Angela was coming into her thirties and craving more stability. “I started to care that I was still eating 99 cent noodles,” she laughs. She and her partner were also craving warmth. They had spent all of their lives in Saskatchewan and with COVID interrupting their livelihood, they began to look in another direction...to the west where there was warmth, change and variety.

The pair purchased a 1987 motorhome and in 2020, they started to travel with their three dogs—a polish sheep dog, a border collie, and a husky cross. “We have friends on Salt Spring Island and we fell in love with the west coast, the mountains, the trees and the ocean,” she says.

Looking for something more secure, Angela spotted a profile on the BC RCMP 9-1-1 police dispatchers. She thought, “could I do this?” It turns out she could and three years in, she is working at the Island District 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre located in Courtenay.

“I came from something I was very passionate about (acting). If I look at the day jobs, I had to pay bills waiting tables, I struggled to stay interested in that. With my work as a police dispatcher, there’s always change and variety. Every season is different. Every shift is different and every file is different,” explains Angela.

The shift work is also in her favour. We work four days and have four days off,” she says. This gives her time to train to run ultra marathons.

Diving deep to help others

With seven world records and 13 Canadian national records, Mandy-Rae has been a freediving force to be reckoned with since 2000. She was sought after by the film and entertainment industry as a gifted trainer of onscreen talent.

A highly motivated and a determined athlete with a great sense of humor, she also scored two first-place titles with Team Canada in the AIDA Freediving World Championships.

She was a Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) Course Director, the highest level in recreational diving. The former competitive synchronized swimmer is also a proud member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame.

Mandy-Rae was part of the team that helped expose the slaughter of dolphins in Japan in the 2010 Academy Award-winning documentary, The Cove, and was a mermaid in the film, The Mermaid Chair.

She and her company trained actors Tom Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson for their underwater roles in the feature film Mission: Impossible–Rogue Nation (2015), actor Margot Robbie and her stunt double for their underwater roles in Suicide Squad (2016), resulting in breath-holds over five minutes, and trained actors on the set of James Cameron's Avatar 2 (2020). She was directly involved with training Special operations members, Canadian Olympic and RedBull Athletes.

Just before the pandemic in 2019, she sold her business, the internationally recognized Performance Freediving International (PFI), the world leader in freediving training.

Mandy-Rae always wanted to be a 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher and, during COVID, she saw a job poster asking people to apply.

“I always thought it would be an interesting job – helping the public who are in difficult situations and that it would be a great challenging profession to be in,” says Mandy-Rae. “Finally, I was at a point in my career when I could become a dispatcher.”

She started training to be a dispatcher in 2021 at the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre in Courtenay.

“I was never interested in a desk job where you do the same thing everyday,” says Mandy-Rae. “With dispatching, every single call is different. It’s fast paced and there is so much information that you need to know that you are always learning something that is going to challenge you.”

Mandy-Rae talks about the close-knit environment at the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre.

“I really enjoy going into work. It’s like a second family,” says Mandy-Rae. “Everyone has the same sense of humour.”

“Dispatching is far more than just answering 9-1-1 calls,” says Mandy-Rae. “You are not only taking calls but learning how to control the conversation, so you can get the answers that you need to dispatch to the police to the location and help them. You need to get those answers as quickly as possible and still be compassionate while letting them know the police are on their way.”

Police Dispatching also includes looking after police officers and directing them to the scene. People who call 9-1-1 are often surprised at the number of questions a dispatcher will ask. They are ensuring that the officers have all the information they need to safely respond to the incident.

“I had no idea when I started the job how involved it was – what a big role it plays in public safety,” adds Mandy-Rae. “It is your responsibility to make sure officers stay safe and give them all the resources they need.”

Dispatchers are trained to search multiple databases and notify the officer of any hazards or flags. For example, when an officer pulls over a vehicle, the dispatcher will search for the name of the registered owner and their driver licence number before the police even speak to the driver.

“The officer needs to determine if there is any potential danger,” she adds. “They need to know if there are any guns registered to the individual or if there is a history of violence or mental illness. All of these answers must be delivered in a split second.”

The people who work in the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre know how challenging some calls can be and they help each other out.

“I had a call where someone had been stabbed,” remembers Mandy-Rae. “The entire dispatch centre came together. When something big has happened and you need all these resources immediately. Police officers are arriving on scene and calling the 9-1-1 Dispatcher requesting various resources. While you are dealing with one officer, you can turn to another dispatcher and ask them to call Emergency Health Services, and ask another to search tattoos. Dispatchers just step in.”

Dispatching can also be very rewarding. You help find a person’s car, or their stolen goods, or help the officer catch the bad guy.

“Even though you are not seeing the people you are talking to, you are making a difference by just listening to them,” she adds. “You know you have helped someone. You feel good that the officers arrived in time to help the person. There are moments like that that make you feel really good about what you are doing.”

Most dispatchers work 12-hour shifts, four days in a row. Mandy-Rae has a 13-year-old daughter and finds shiftwork is easier than a Monday to Friday job.

“I absolutely love shiftwork! You work hard for your four days, but you get four days off,” says Mandy-Rae. “I can go camping with my daughter for three days, not just two. And it doesn’t have to be on a weekend. We can go during the week. I have a better work-life balance.”

When Mandy-Rae gets home from a day shift, her daughter makes her dinner. On night shifts, she makes breakfast for her daughter and takes her to school.

“My daughter used to brag about my world records. Now she brags about what I do now – that I’m doing something that makes a difference – that is worthwhile and meaningful,” says the proud mother.

Last year, Mandy-Rae’s sister began training and is now an RCMP Police Dispatcher in Edmonton.

Mandy-Rae is responsible for recruiting trainees for the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre in Courtenay. Mandy-Rae hosts weekly information sessions and explains the application process and why she loves what she does.

If you are seeking a career where every day and every shift is different, you look forward to engaging with people from all different walks of life to help them through difficult situations, this may be the job for you. 

9-1-1 police dispatchers, literally, have lives on the line

Being the calm, steady voice at the other end of the line is sometimes all a person needs. When someone calls 9-1-1, they are most often in a highly stressful situation or may be in despair.

A young man was walking on the side of the highway. He was carrying a knife. He was contemplating cutting himself or even jumping into traffic. Then he called 9-1-1.

“I stayed on the line with him for over an hour,” says Cassidy, the 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher who answered the call. “I had dispatched the police but I knew that it would take about an hour for them to reach the young man who was walking far from the nearest detachment.”

The dispatcher knew that she must collect information from the caller that would be vital to the police who were on their way. Besides location, police dispatchers make inquiries into the person’s condition and the details of what was happening.

“I was just talking to him,” says Cassidy. “I asked him questions about his life and his family. I tried to normalize the situation. He said he was upset and had left his family. Being Christmas, I knew emotions were running high.”

Police dispatchers are trained in how to talk people through some very tense and fear‐stricken moments. They have access to resources to support those who are often in dire situations. Quick thinking is a must for potentially life-threatening scenarios. It takes an impressive amount of mental clarity, dexterity and laser-sharp focus to be a police dispatcher.

“During university, I volunteered with the Kids Help Phone crisis line and I texted with multiple kids and teenagers who were wanting to harm themselves,” says Cassidy. “Those conversations have helped me. We were trained to use active listening and to work with the person to problem solve.”

The role of the dispatcher is to protect the public and the police. They must obtain enough information from the caller to ensure the police have all the details they need prior to arriving at the scene. Police Dispatchers have to anticipate the next move: What will the officers need next? Who else needs to be there to support them, such as the Police Dog Service, Air Services, or Negotiators. They must know the status of each of the officer on duty, to monitor and track police resources, and to ensure officer safety. This is especially true during high priority calls.

“You want to have empathy towards the person while, at the same time, get as much information as you can for officer safety,” says Cassidy. “But, honestly, having a calm voice is the most important thing for the caller and for the police officer.”

High priority calls, such as this one, require the police dispatcher to be completely focused. They must rely on the support system of their colleagues.

“While I was on the call with that young man,” recalls Cassidy, “my coworkers were answering my other calls; helping me find resources. The caller needed my undivided attention and the other dispatchers backed me up. It’s like we have a sixth sense and just know when someone is dealing with something and you take over for them.”

Cassidy started working part time through the Student Program as a Call Taker at the Southeast District Dispatch Centre in Kelowna when she was attending university. She has been working full time since 2020. Both her parents are retired RCMP police officers and told her about the role. Also, her brother just became an RCMP officer within the last few years. So, it’s clear she grew up in a policing environment. It just came naturally for her to join the RCMP. But shift work was new to her. Dispatchers have 12-hour shifts of four days on and four days off. They typically work two-day shifts followed by two-night shifts.

“I was a night owl,” says Cassidy, “so I found the nights to be pretty easy. I was just 19 years old when I started. I would just eat super crappy during the night – fast food.”

Cassidy soon learned that was not sustainable.

“Now I know to be healthy at work, I need to eat properly, exercise and definitely not drink a bunch of caffeine before you have to lay down for a proper rest,” says Cassidy. “This is not a job you want to show up tired for. Everything needs your full attention because you, literally, have lives on the line.”

Today, she does yoga which she finds relaxes her and helps her with her mental health, especially since dispatchers have to sit for most of their shift.

She has also changed her mindset around eating meals. She treats the night shift as if it were a regular day at the office.

“I eat my breakfast, my lunch, and then when I get home, I eat my dinner in the morning, which is technically my breakfast,” says Cassidy. “When I come in for a night shift, it's like, ‘Good Morning.’ I just treat it differently and I think that's helped a lot.”

The dispatcher’s ability to take control of a call and calm someone down when they are stressed, has taught Cassidy some important life skills.

“I’ve grown as a person,” says Cassidy. “Particularly my communication skills. I don’t have a fear of public speaking. I can get my message across easily and I’m good at problem solving. I have learned to quickly come up with alternate solutions while considering what is the fastest, most efficient way I can do something that will help someone.”

She has learned how to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference – to have empathy for the caller, no matter the situation.

“You really have no idea what is going on with a person who is calling 9-1-1,” adds Cassidy. “I've found that to be probably the most enlightening part of this job.”

One of the skills she has learned is multitasking. There are two functions of the 9-1-1 call. When you call 9-1-1, the dispatcher will ask you many questions to get all the details about what is happening. The next step is to dispatch the police to the location. The initial details of the 9-1-1 call is dispatched to the police officer using computer-aided dispatch (CAD) software in real time. The dispatcher continues to obtain more details from the caller which is concurrently added to CAD so the police officer has the most current information.

“I'm talking to a caller in one ear, and then I've got the officer talking in my other ear, and I'm responding to both people simultaneously,” says Cassidy. “Honestly, when I first sat with someone to learn dispatching, I was like, there's no way I'm going to be able to do that. I don't know how you do it, but now, I do it like every day. It just becomes natural.”

Not everyone can balance these simultaneous but seemingly opposing tasks. While the role of the police officer has its own complexities, many would not be able to tackle the job of the one who protects them and guides them to the scene.

Admittedly, dispatching is a stressful job. Yet, it is important to have laughter to lift the mood and relieve the stress. And you get some funny calls as well.

“When someone calls in and, you know, they're yelling,” says Cassidy. “They're screaming, very erratic. And you think what is going on? It could be a stolen purse or it could be someone was just shot. You just never know.”

Then there are also the humorous calls. Those who call about a rampant deer running on the road or a vicious squirrel.

“There are the calls where people think police are needed,” says Cassidy. “They say, ‘My husband keeps moving the garbage can. Can you help? He won't listen to me. And I say, ‘no ma'am. This isn't a police call.’”

Despite the pressure-filled environment of the Police Dispatch Centre, Cassidy finds the balance.

“There's not an ounce of stress in my body,” she admits. “It's kind of stress relieving just to come to work. Not a lot of people would say that – it makes no sense. Honestly, I just really love the adrenaline, especially when it's super busy. I love dispatching. It gets your brain flowing.”

9-1-1 police dispatchers must be in control, not controlling

Not all 9-1-1 Police Dispatchers come with an entrepreneurial background, but it certainly has been an asset for dispatcher Bobby. Before becoming a dispatcher, Bobby was part owner of a security company in Western Canada with branches in Vancouver and Calgary. With more than 800 employees, he was working constantly. Even on his days off he worked. When he wasn’t working, he worried about the business.

At the time, Bobby and his wife had a six-month-old daughter whom he rarely saw. He would leave in the morning before she woke up and return home after she had gone to bed. He was missing his family; missing being a dad. He knew that this wasn’t the life he wanted.

So, in 2020, just before COVID, he sold his shares in the company and got himself ready for a new adventure.

Bobby knew he wanted a career that offers a little bit of excitement and work that is always challenging.

When he saw a job opportunity at the Island District 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre in Courtenay, he was intrigued. He knew with shiftwork, he could be home with his family more. He applied, completed the training, and began his new career. As he was going through the application/training process, his family relocated from Vancouver to Courtenay, purchasing a 4-acre family farm that would bring even more balance and opportunity to Bobby and his family.

Bobby has been a 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher for just over a year and it is exactly what he was looking for.

“I love shiftwork,” says Bobby. “When you are on, you’re on. When you’re off, you’re off. I can be with my family fully and give them my total attention. In fact, I can’t believe that before I worked five days and only had two days off on the weekend. I’d rather put my time in, work hard, and then have four days off.”

“I remember when I started training and would watch other dispatchers, I thought I would not be able to do it,” says Bobby. “Dispatchers have to be able to take a call, put it on hold, listen to the radio, talk to a police officer, and simultaneously, type everything that is said, and doing all of this together. It just seemed so impossible. But, I persevered. I had to be patient with myself.”

After their initial training, dispatchers are assigned a Field Coach who will work alongside them, guiding and evaluating them throughout the “on the floor” training. There is also classroom training at the Pacific Regional Training Centre in Chilliwack and at their training and operational centre.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the training. You had to really step up your skills quickly and maintain that momentum. I soon realized what I was capable of and that was always surprising to me.”

“When I started at the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre,” says Bobby, “it felt like I had won the lottery being paired with the best coach. She was phenomenal at training and working with me, catering to who I was versus how she wanted to teach. Everyone in the Dispatch Centre is always so supportive. You are never afraid of asking any question.”

This was a big change from working in the security field.

“I came from a world with a lot of bravado in the security world,” says Bobby. “But you come here and you have to throw your ego away at the door. Everyone asks questions. Everyone is going to make mistakes. Own it and it’ll be good. It’s such a safe environment.”

He admits that it’s a bit of an oxymoron.

“You’re often listening to the terrible things callers are going through,” says Bobby. “But the workplace culture here is so supportive that I feel great going to work every day. It’s just so evident every time you walk into the Dispatch Centre. You’re never judged. I would say it’s teamwork on steroids.”

There have been times when Bobby has received difficult calls.

“I remember one particular call from a mother who woke up and found that her daughter was missing,” says Bobby. “She was very frantic. She couldn't find her daughter in the house and the front door was open. The daughter had obviously left and I stayed on the phone with the mother, reassuring her that the police were on their way. It was only a few minutes before the police got there and spoke with the mom. Hearing her voice when one of the police found her daughter was really touching for me. I definitely hung out with my daughter for a little bit longer when I got home after that one.”

Anytime a dispatcher has had a tough call, the supervisors always come to talk to you afterwards and make sure that you're okay and ask if you need support.

The team is always watching out for one another. During a high priority call, there are so many things a dispatcher has to do from calling the fire department or BC Ambulance, schools, Mainroads, or specialized units within BC RCMP, such as the Police Dog Service or our Emergency Response Team.

“You can't make all those calls on your own, so that’s when the whole 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre really comes together to make those calls with you,” says Bobby. “They add notes to the file as they go so that everybody's aware what’s happening. It’s the hub of communication for all of those actions taking place.”

Prior to becoming a 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher and being part owner of a security company, Bobby was in the military and served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I came into this dispatcher job pretty confident,” says Bobby. “I thought that my experience as a radio operator in the military would've helped me quite a bit. I was quickly humbled. I realized that when I was a radio operator in the military, I was the one always giving information and telling others what we needed. Whereas as a dispatcher, it is the opposite. I am the one asking the questions, trying to get all of the information from callers, who are often frantic. The roles were reversed.”

Still, he found his military experience of great value.

“I think that the resilience and determination that I learned from the military really put me in a great place to be able to look inward and find the tools I needed to learn to be on this side of the headset,” says Bobby.

“I was exposed to many things in the military,” says Bobby. “Some calls do affect me, but due to my military background, I might be better equipped to deal with the emotions that come afterwards.”

“I’m surprised not more military vets are dispatchers,” adds Bobby. “In the military, you learn how to deal with a crisis with clarity and calmness. Many ex-military struggle to find purpose after their career. Becoming a 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher could be it.”

To unwind after a shift, Bobby goes home to be with his family and his farm animals.

Bobby and his family own a small hobby farm. Having just come out of their first lambing season, the headcount on the farm has grown with six ewe and nine new lambs. He also has a flock of 40 egg-laying chickens and 4000 garlic plants in the ground. Last year, the family successfully harvested 6000 garlic bulbs, which were sold out within a month and a half. They also have 16 blueberry plants, and he just planted raspberries and have big plans for a fruit-tree orchard.

“There’s a lot keeping me busy at home,” Bobby says with a smile. “In the morning, I have to feed the animals and, when I come home, I have to feed them again,” says Bobby. “I get to hang out with my 120-pound Great Pyrenees dog Rio, the sheep and the chickens, all who are very happy to see me. Maybe its because they missed me, but I am sure its more because they’re hungry. It is all very therapeutic for me.”

Bobby learned one important lesson from both tending to his farm and in dispatching: “You can't be controlling, but you have to be in control.”

“I love that balance where, you have to be in control of what the police are doing, but not be controlling them. They know what to do,” adds Bobby. “You're there to help them. I've always been that type of person where I like to help. I like to provide a service and I like to make sure that people are safe. I think that that's the biggest part of what 9-1-1 Police Dispatchers do. We keep the public safe. We ask the right questions so we can get them the help they need right away.”

9-1-1 Police Dispatchers also help the police stay safe.

“We are responsible for collecting as much vital information as we can about the situation from the caller,” says Bobby. “We tell the officers exactly where the incident is taking place, indicate if anyone is injured, and describe if there are any potential risk/threats, so the police know what to expect when they arrive. I feel that having that level of responsibility and that level of control, is a delicate balance. When you get it right and, you’re having a good day, it feels pretty good.”

Bobby talks about being in a flow state when that happens. His body just hums, he knows he’s got this.

When Bobby has a call from someone who is experiencing their worst nightmare and he is able to guide the police there to help, he knows he has found his purpose.

“Helping people is one of the most fulfilling and gratifying feelings I have in my life,” says Bobby.

Active shooter in Vanderhoof: How 9-1-1 Police Dispatchers responded

No one expected this would happen. The shots rang out just after noon on November 25, 2021. A male suspect fired multiple shots at vehicles and at the Vanderhoof RCMP Detachment. Staff at the Detachment took cover to avoid being struck by incoming gunfire. Many police officers ran out of the building toward the sounds of the shots to locate the suspect.

The North District 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre in Prince George received the “Officer in Distress” alert and the dispatchers acted quickly to respond. As the public called 9-1-1 asking for help and telling the police dispatchers what they had seen or heard, the team of dispatchers worked together to gather as much accurate information as possible, providing it to police officers as they searched for the suspect.

This is an event all dispatchers are trained for but rarely have to use their specialized skills learned in the Immediate Action Rapid Deployment (IARD) course. The training ensured that they had the confidence and ability to know what to do and what officers needed. The dispatchers understood the magnitude of the event and were ready.

They jumped into action calling out the Emergency Response Team, Police Dog Service, Air Services, the Division Duty Officer (DDO), and multiple units from neighbouring detachments. They worked along side the North District Senior Officers and the Critical Incident Commander to support the response of the police officers as they as they rushed to the aid of those at the Vanderhoof Detachment as well as the citizens of the community.

With the direction from the Chief Superintendent Warren Brown, North District Commander, the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre contacted the DDO, who requested the first Police Initiated Public Safety Alert advising the community of the unfolding situation, instructing them to adhere to police direction, shelter in place, and avoid the area.

The 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre received calls from businesses and the public and instructed those callers to lock their doors and stay inside. They called the schools and advised that they lock down their facilities to keep students and staff safe inside. All the while, the Police Dispatch Centre continued taking 9-1-1 calls for help from the public in the other 36 RCMP detachments across the North District.

When off-duty dispatchers heard the Public Safety Alert, nine dispatchers self deployed or called in to the Police Dispatch Centre to offer their assistance.

These nine dispatchers were instrumental in supporting the incident. Their presence allowed the primary dispatcher and those working along side of her to focus on the unfolding event with all of its complexities.

Communication with police officers in Vanderhoof was continual and uninterrupted.

When the danger in Vanderhoof had passed, the entire dispatch team was relieved from their duties to have an immediate Critical Incident Debrief, and to catch their breath.

During this debrief, boxes of pizza were delivered to the Police Dispatch Centre, sent from a dispatcher who was not able to come to the Centre.

After the dispatchers had a few moments to decompress, the team went back to the floor to finish their shift.

“Our dispatchers trusted in their training and were the ‘heroes behind the call,’ keeping our police officers and the public safe during an emergent and high risk situation,” says Blane Angielski, Team Leader, North District 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre. “All involved demonstrated professionalism, teamwork and dedication to their call for service and they supported one another before, during and after the event.”

Often unseen and unknown, the 9-1-1 Police Dispatchers are the essential link between the police and the public.

Chief Superintendent Warren Brown also congratulated the dispatchers. “I was so overly impressed with how professional our Police Dispatchers behaved and took control. Calm, collected, deliberate, and well organized. They were taking incoming 9-1-1 calls; sharing information between dispatchers, supervisors, and managers; collecting data and intel on the suspect; liaising with the DDO; providing a calm influence; and coordinating the officers while they were under fire and in pursuit. Nothing less than outstanding. Thank you 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre for the epitome of excellence!”

As a result of the collective efforts of all those involved, the shooter was taken into custody and no one was injured.

Crane collapses at a Kelowna construction site causing massive damage

The first call was a report an industrial accident in downtown Kelowna. But, the true magnitude of the incident wasn’t clear to the 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher who took the call on the morning of July 12, 2021. It wasn’t until the Kelowna RCMP officers arrive on scene that the scope of the disaster became clear. A massive crane collapsed at a construction site, falling into the office building next door as well as a senior’s home.

Multiple requests came in from the officers calling for additional support. They reported details about the incident at a rapid fire pace.

Other 9-1-1 Police Dispatchers stepped up to handle a number of these requests, as well as managing the other 9-1-1 calls for the remaining 50 detachments that the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre serves.

An additional factor that complicated the response was that BC was experiencing a “heat dome,” a high-pressure weather system that trapped the heat, with record-high temperatures across the province reaching up to 49.6°C.

The police dispatchers needed to notify businesses and partner agencies and coordinate their support. They contacted the BC Ambulance Service, Kelowna Fire Department, WorkSafeBC, BC Hydro, the construction company, Kelowna City Hall, and the hospital. Other RCMP resources were dispatched to the scene, including a traffic analyst to assist with the deployment of a drone to capture the broader view of the collapse crane and surrounding buildings that were impacted.

A police dispatcher contacted BC Transit to request air-conditioned buses to transfer the evacuated residents of the business and the senior’s home. In a truly selfless and generous act, Safeway donated food and beverages to the evacuees, police officers and first responders that were mustered in their parking lot.

It was soon evident that there were multiple fatalities as a result of the tragedy. Five people died when the crane attached to a high-rise building under construction suddenly collapsed while in the process of being dismantled.

“This event was so tragic, and our hearts go out to all that were impacted,” said Tracey Arnold, Southeast District 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre Commander. “It is during these large incidents where the importance of our SED police dispatchers are highlighted. They are so efficient and professional and will rise to the occasion when the community, partner agencies and police officers need them most.”

With their superior multitasking skills, this incident illustrates the ability police dispatchers have when coordinating an emergency response involving multiple agencies for a devastating crisis affecting so many people.

“The amount of coordination required between the primary police dispatcher, backup dispatcher, operations desk, supervisor, and every one else in the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre that assisted with calls or updates on this file was impressive and functioned seamlessly,” said Jason Carter, Team Leader, Southeast District 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre. “According to reports from the officers and other first responders on scene and the number of issues the dispatchers had to manage, the team functioned extremely well in the face of this horrible situation. The interplay between of all the agencies and emergency professionals was seamless.”

“Besides their training and experience, it is the strong sense of teamwork that ensures everything that needs to be done, gets done well. It is my honour to celebrate this amazing group of people during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week,” said Tracey Arnold.

More than a voice at the end of the line

Sharla Duchscherer always knew she wanted to be in policing. She wanted to help people get the assistance they needed and to know that she was valued for the work she did.

Sharla has been a 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher for 15 years and is currently the Recruiter for the North District 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre in Prince George. Sharla is passionate about the work she does and is very proud to work in police services, supporting RCMP officers on the road, ensuring police and public safety.  

“You have to care about people—people you’ve never met—and want to be there to help them. You need to have an empathic nature,” says Sharla.

“We are here to serve the public,” says Sharla. “I feel rewarded making a difference in someone’s life, no matter how small.”

The role of the dispatcher is multifaceted, and we answer 9-1-1 emergency as well as the non-emergency calls that come into the Centre. “In addition to assisting callers during an emergency, educating the public on the role of police in relation to public safety is also part of what we do.”

Even if the caller didn’t understand how policing or the law worked, she explained the system so the caller understood.

For example, Sharla would receive a call asking for something that was not a police matter, such as a custody issue, which falls under family law. 

“If we just said, the police don’t do that, and end the call, it is not a good reflection of what we do and what we are here for,” says Sharla. “But, if I take the time to explain the difference between family law and criminal law, the caller will then understand that the police only deal with criminal law. Family law issues are the responsibility of the Ministry of Children and Family Development and the caller would need to contact their legal council. Unless there is endangerment to the child or if there is a court order enforceable by the RCMP, the police would not attend.” 

“Knowing that I am there for someone, sending them the help they need, is the reward for doing this job,” says Sharla. “It’s not an easy job. Not everyone can do it. It’s not a Monday to Friday 9-5 job. Crime does not stop at 5:00 p.m. or on weekends.” 

“People don’t see us,” adds Sharla. “We are only the voice at the end of the line. But callers know that police dispatchers are there to get them help no matter what the situation is. It’s our job to keep the public and our police officers safe.”

For many, when you start working in the 9-1-1 police dispatcher environment, you are tested. You need to build resilience and learn how to self-assess how this job affects your life, but the reward is worth it. Dispatchers learn how to manage it.  

Sometimes the end result is so rewarding because everything turns out alright. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. 

“But that is what fuels us—that’s what makes us tick,” adds Sharla.

That is what she tells her new recruits. You have to have a passion for excellence, be able to make important decisions very quickly, know how to prioritize and not be rattled by constant change. You have to have a strong work ethic.

“What you need is ‘grit’,” says Sharla. “This is a critically important job. You have to be ready because, when the rubber meets the road, you have to be on it. There is little room for error. You have to trust your training and know that what you’ve been taught is what you will need to know in any given situation.”

Things are never black and white in the policing world. Things are very grey. The 9-1-1 RCMP Police Dispatch training program teaches police dispatchers how to dig into that grey and get the facts as quickly as they can to not only help the callers, but the police officers as well, so they know what situation they are facing.

“We want our police officers to go home to their families at the end of their shift; and for callers to know we will do everything we can to ensure their safety,” says Sharla. 

To be a successful police dispatcher, you have to have drive and passion; you have to want to make a difference and be committed to public safety. 

“It’s important to know that you will be hearing about someone else’s crisis and you are trained how you will respond.” 

North District 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Program is actively looking for new recruits. The first step is to visit the BCRCMP911.ca website where the entire process is outlined. The application process has eight steps: 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher Application Process chart.

“We always encourage people to start by taking the self-evaluation questionnaire called, Is this career right for you?” says Sharla. “It’s a good tool as it gives you an idea of the kind of attributes we are looking for. It also makes you self-reflect and determine if you would like to be part of this highly active, dynamic environment.”

The next step is to attend the Career Presentation. It’s a valuable overview of the application process and the importance this job. There are audio clips of real 9-1-1 calls so people have a better sense of what it’s really like and what to expect. It reviews the training, the pay and benefits, but it also touches on lifestyle, what it’s like to be a shift worker and about the collaborative culture at the Operational Communications Centre. After the presentation, there is a one-on-one session for people who have specific questions.

People come into this role from all walks of life. It’s a career, not a job. Once you are here and assist callers in their time of need, it becomes something that runs in your veins.

“Laughter is a big part of what we do,” says Sharla. “We have a caring culture at the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre. It’s like our second family. We have to laugh and work as a team. We cannot do this job alone, we support our co-workers at all times. That’s what keeps up our morale. We hear amazing things over our headset—some really great things—as well as the challenging calls. To be part of a good team of colleagues is so gratifying.”  

Dispatchers are truly the first of the first responders.

“Unlike the police officers, no one sees us,” says Sharla. “But, we are link the caller to the officer. We are like the front line of the army that first to scout out what’s happening up ahead and come back to advise the troops, in our case, the officers. We make the connection between what the caller is telling us and the information the attending officer needs to know to respond to the call effectively. They must have as much information as possible to ensure the public’s safety, while safeguarding their own protection.”  

Dispatchers are more than just the voice at the other end of the line. They are the lifeline.

We’re a family

As a child, Christina wanted to be a police officer. Years later, a friend suggested that she would be a good 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher since Christina had a strong work ethic and could easily multitask. Becoming a dispatcher was never on her radar growing up. Christina decided to attend a Career Presentation to learn more about the career and then quickly applied to the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Program.

She expected that the job would primarily be about helping people. However, once she became a police dispatcher, it opened her eyes to what is really going on behind the scenes.

“You see something posted on social media or the news,” says Christina. “But you don’t realize how much more there is to the story.”

The typical scene in the movies is of someone screaming or crying when they call 9-1-1. It is far different from that. Sometimes you get the highest priority calls coming in on the non-emergency line.

A dispatcher could be on a non-emergency call and talking to someone about their car that has been vandalized. The next 9-1-1 call could be about an intense emergency with multiple people affected. At that point, dispatchers jump into action and dispatch the police to the scene, all the while calmly speaking to the person on the 9-1-1 call, asking them to stay on the call until the police arrive. Simultaneously, the police might call the dispatcher and request that they dispatch multiple police services, such as the Police Service Dogs or the Explosives Disposal Unit to the scene. As they switch back and forth between the caller and the police, dispatchers must remember all of the demands and calls for support.

“I thrive in that environment,” says Christina. “I absolutely love it when we are really busy. With multiple concurrent calls, dispatching police, listening to the radio.”

Christina sets high standards for herself and is diligent to ensure accuracy and that no details are missed.

While Christina is someone who tends not to remember calls at the end of the day, she has had a few that were a bit unusual.

Christina answered a 9-1-1 call from a man who was panicked. She could hear it in his voice. By his tone, she thought someone had been shot. She confirmed his location and then the man told her that there was a deer walking through his cul-de-sac in the suburbs! She asked if he had recently moved to the area. He laughed and asked her how she could tell. She said that they had a great deal of deer in the area and he’d be seeing a lot more of them. They both laughed and she then advised him to call the BC Conservation Officer Service next time.

Here’s another example of how people may sound one way but the situation calls for a different reaction. She received a call from a man who sounded very calm as he explained that someone had broken into his house. The way he described the situation made it sound like it had happened in the past. Christina asked him if he knew who did it. He answered calmly, “Yeah, he’s standing right in front of me and has a rifle pointed at my face.”

Christina asked him to give her a description, to which he replied rather disdainfully, “Some EMO kid with dark brown hair parted in the middle.” She couldn’t believe that someone would say that if they had a gun pointed to their head. She told him to get out of the house and he ran down the street and watched as the intruder followed him out then stood on his porch, while still pointing the rifle at him as he ran.

Not many calls get to Christina but she remembers one that saddened her. It was a call from a senior woman and Christina could hear in her voice that she was just trembling. She was terrified. Her husband had gone on a rampage throughout the house searching for her. She said that that her husband used to be the sweetest man until dementia changed his personality. This man, whom she loved, had turned into a person who terrorized her. She had gone into a room and, despite being petit, she managed to push some furniture against the door. She didn’t know what to do. She had thought of jumping out the window but was afraid she’d break something. Christina kept talking to her until the police arrived.

It’s the shear variety of calls that makes being a 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher so exhilarating. It’s one of the reasons Christina loves being a dispatcher. The other is the people she works with.

“I love the fact that when I go into work, it feels like I’m with my second family,” says Christina. “Then I go home to be with my other family.”

The shiftwork of four days on and four days off only enhances that familiarity. Each shift is 12 hours long, so they get to know the other dispatchers intimately, especially when the work can be intense. During the night shift, they like to have a little laugh to keep everyone alert.

Christina likes to be physically active, and on her extended days off, she explores the great BC wilderness, backpacking through the mountain peaks or hiking to the many lakes in the area.

“The best part of shiftwork is the long stretch of days off,” says Christina. “You get an opportunity to treat every weekend like a long weekend. You only have to take four days off to get a 12-day holiday.

“And when you come back after four days off, you are looking forward to seeing your work family that you have been away from,” says Christina.

Can't get any better than that!

When he was in North Dakota working in the oil and gas sector, becoming a 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher was the furthest thing from André’s mind. But, he did want to get back to Canada, so he started to do a little research on what job opportunities there were back home.

He discovered that BC was looking for 9-1-1 Police Dispatchers. He read the work description on the BC RCMP website and something clicked. He thought that this job would fit his personality perfectly. The work was dynamic and fast paced. That’s what he was looking for.

Previously, André had been in the Coast Guard, an actor, and he even owned a restaurant, so he obviously was accustomed to change and diversity. He applied, trained, and for the past five years, has been a dispatcher at the Island 9-1-1 Dispatch Centre in Courtenay.

“This career is the closest thing to a “calling” than any other work I have done,” says André. “It’s well suited to me.”

André also liked the idea of being a vital part of the RCMP family. After all, his father was a Mountie who retired after 30 years. His father was posted in communities across Canada but, as the youngest of four children, his father had settled into his final posting in New Brunswick so André grew up in Fredericton.

Dispatchers definitely know all about change. While there is some repetition in the job, every call is unique.

“One minute you can be dealing with a property file, such as a stolen bike or lost wallet,” says André. “The next minute you can take a call that is highly emotional, where there is an incident in progress, and all of sudden you are on the edge of your seat and the stress is on. You have to incorporate different aspects of what you’ve learned in your training, and on the job, to achieve the best possible outcome.”

André credits being part of a cohesive team of good people that makes the job fun, light, and far more enjoyable.

“When a serious situation occurs, once it is over, you need to lighten the mood in the room,” says André. “It’s important to have a laugh in between all the very serious things we have to deal with daily.

Today, André is the Shift Supervisor of Team 1 and works two days and two nights, 12 hours each, with four days off. Team 1 works with the same police officers on the watch at the detachments. They match their schedule so they are working with the same group of people all the time.

“You get to know the officers; how they work and what they need,” says André. “We all work together.”

Still, there are many variables and unknowns every day.

“We are trained to deal with the unexpected,” says André. “They give us all the training and the tools we need to assess and work through any and all situations that might come from a 9-1-1 call or over the radio talking with officers.” As a result, over the years, he has honed the skills of being detail-oriented and a multi-tasker.

There is no one personality suited for a career as a 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher. Everyone brings something to the team that can assist others in different ways.

“When we train people, we always tell them that there are 100 different ways to make a successful file,” says André.

That said, he pointed out that it would be difficult to be a shy person when doing this job. You are dealing with so much confrontation, whether it is on the phone with people when they are stressed out and may be yelling at you, or not hearing you because they are so frantic. You really need to speak up to get your point across.

“We are trained to do everything efficiently, quickly, precisely, and to get that information out to where it needs to be in a timely manner,” he says. “But with a trainee, you have to do the opposite. You have to work with them when they are learning, understand they will make mistakes, so they can learn how to do it right. It’s inefficient, slow and clumsy in the beginning… and stressful!” There are some situations where you have to be stern to get callers to calm down so you can get the information you need for the police officers. It can be overwhelming.

“The most important thing to have in this job is self preservation,” says André. “Look after yourself first. If you feel like something is getting to you, you have to address it. You can’t ignore it because it is just going to lead you down the wrong path.”

For André, exercise is the number one thing he needs. He runs to clear his head. If something is on his mind, he finds that by the end of the run, he has worked out the issue and is done with it so it doesn’t weigh on him when he is on his days off.

André remembers some of the more challenging calls.

“It was the middle of the night, and we started getting 9-1-1 calls about a Tsunami. People were getting notices on their smartphones saying: Potential Tsunami coming to the north island as a result of an earthquake off the coast of Alaska. Yet, the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre had not received an emergency message.”

“We had to call every one of the detachments, wake them up, and tell them to evacuate their towns and to move people to the highest point, away from shore.”

However, in the end, it didn’t translate into a major event. There was no major wave of water. However, it was a great training scenario for everyone. In fact, today’s alert systems are far superior.

“People can set up the Emergency Broadcast System on their smartphones and get the emergency alert immediately.”

There are times when other RCMP units or teams call the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre. He recalls when BC RCMP Air Services were flying home and heard something over the radio about a helicopter crash. They contacted us first to notify us of the accident. They started searching for the helicopter but it was very difficult to find in the densely wooded area. It took a few minutes but eventually they located the crash site. The fire and ambulance services were on scene in minutes.

“It’s calls like that when you have to call out multiple specialized units, such as the calling the Emergency Response Team for a weapons complaint, or getting the Police Dog Services involved to track a suspect,” says André. “These units demonstrate what services the RCMP have to provide support. That’s when it is the most interesting. Particularly when you have a positive outcome and you know you’ve done the job right. That’s the most satisfying. I enjoy the team atmosphere.”

André recognizes that it’s the people he works with that make his job as a dispatcher enjoyable.

“When you work with people who are down in the trenches with you doing difficult work,” says André. “You are supporting them when they have a difficult call, and you know they will support you.”

He likens this bond to a sports team that knows how to work together during challenging times. You become so close knit with these people that they become like family.

“If you have a positive work environment, where you can talk through situations, and you can have a good laugh with them, it can be quite fun. The things about this job,” adds Andre, “all the stressors and the emotions you have to deal with can elevate you in all other aspects of your life.”

This job has taught André to be much more efficient, detail-oriented, and a taskmaster. At home, it has served him very well in managing his three young children and all of their activities. He is able to really listen to them and what is going on in their lives. This job has made him a better person.

“We are helping the public and providing a service that you can be proud of,” adds André. “And I am very proud of what I do for the RCMP.”  

In a heartbeat

Ginny always wanted to be in a profession helping people. She had once considered being a nurse, however; she married an RCMP officer and they moved frequently until they settled in Kelowna. She also had two small children who needed her full attention so she took a job at the school district.

Years later, she wanted something a little more challenging, “something to get the cobwebs out, something to stimulate her brain.”

Her husband heard that the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre in Kelowna was hiring new recruits. She spent a day at the Centre to see whether it was something she wanted to do. She realized that, at this job, she would be able to fulfil that desire to help people so signed up for the training.

“In those days, the training as a call taker was on the job,” says Ginny. “You were learning as you were taking that calls from the public under the guidance of a field coach.”

Her career as a 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher helped to build her confidence and gave her multiple opportunities and challenges.

“In the beginning, I thought I would be just answering phones and that’s all,” says Ginny. “But it is far more.”

People who call may not necessarily be reporting a crime or have an issue requiring the police. They may be calling to ask for assistance in tracking down someone who could help them solve a problem. 9-1-1 Police Dispatchers have a wealth of knowledge about the communities they serve and can often provide phone numbers for city services, social workers, mental health advocates, local community centres or schools.

“I’ve had some pretty amazing opportunities throughout my career, for which I am so incredibly grateful,” says Ginny.

When there was a need to standardize 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher competencies profile, the Dispatch Centre management team asked Ginny if she would join the national Ottawa committee that was looking at defining the criteria that would determine if an applicant had the knowledge and skills required to be employed as a dispatcher.

Ginny later became a field coach, supporting new recruits at the start of their careers. In 2003, she was offered the opportunity to be a facilitator for the new training program that was being held at the Pacific Region Training Centre in Chilliwack for the first time. She worked with the training team to develop the curriculum. At that time, the training was for seven weeks. As dispatching requires very different skill sets, the candidate needs to have a solid knowledge of call taking first.

Today, the training program is very comprehensive with a mix of training and working in the field over nine months. The program consists of:

• Three weeks of call taking pre-course
• Three weeks at PRTC
• Twelve weeks of call taking field coaching
• Two weeks of dispatching pre-course
• Two weeks dispatcher training at PRTC
• Twelve weeks field coaching.
• A few years later, Ginny had the chance to be an Acting Supervisor and, in 2007, she was promoted into the supervisor position.

The Southeast District Dispatch Centre in Kelowna encourages career opportunities and they were receptive when Ginny identified that there were gaps in her knowledge now that she was a supervisor. She recommended that they create a Career Growth Program with training in administrative responsibilities, such as, scheduling, assessment writing, and performance management. This would give future new supervisors the tools needed to manage people. It also gave them an opportunity to explore whether being a supervisor was right for them at this point in their career.

In 2014, Ginny became an Acting Team Leader and one year later, was promoted to Team Leader managing three supervisors and 16 call takers and dispatchers.

She is currently acting in the role of Operations Manager responsible for updating the Standard Operation Procedures and Unit Supplements and reviews the complaints or concerns from the public or from police officers.

Recently, the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre Unit Commander introduced the Critical Incident Stress Management Program (CISM). The program trains facilitators to help people reduce the impacts of the normal reactions associated to a critical incident and supports them after a difficult call or situation, such as going to testify in court. Before, dispatchers would attend the same debriefing as the police officers who attended the scene. However, the police experience is after the dispatcher took the call and may or may not be relevant to the dispatcher. It is often the call itself that may be the trigger and the officers don’t hear that.

“I find this job so rewarding because we are helping people,” says Ginny. “We’re making a difference. We’re their first contact with the police. What we say or do affects what the police officers face when they attend the scene.”

“There is one call that sticks with me,” says Ginny. “It made me want to do this job more that ever.”

 Early in her career, Ginny took a call from an elderly woman who had left her small rural home to visit family on the coast. Her husband stayed at their house.

Throughout the day, the woman tried calling her husband a number of times and into the evening but there was no answer.

“Close to midnight, the woman called 9-1-1,” says Ginny. “I reassured her that I would send an officer to their house to check on her husband. Everything turned out to be fine.”

When the officer arrived, he found the man safe at home. He had been out for the day and missed his wife’s calls.

“The woman was so grateful for the fact that I helped her and that we checked on her husband that she crocheted a little angel for me,” says Ginny. “It’s that kind of thank you that I find so rewarding.”

Every time we pick up that call from the public or dispatch an officer via the radio, we are assisting someone.

Ginny recalls another call that shows the cooperation between all dispatchers.

In the middle of the night, she took a call from a gas station attendant. An elderly couple appeared to want to fill their car up with gas but they seemed disoriented. Ginny sent a police officer to the gas station to find the couple but they had departed before the officer arrived.

Another 9-1-1 call came in another gas station attendant at a community about 60 km from where the first call came in. Another dispatcher took that call but did sound like it was about the same couple. The attendant thought there was something that was not quite right as the couple didn’t seem to know where they were going.

Apparently, the couple turned around and headed in the direction of their home, but they drove right past it travelling south.

Ginny received another call around 4:00 am from someone who had found the couple parked on the side of the road. I asked the man to stay with them until the officer arrived. The officer located them and helped them get home safely. Sadly, the confused couple thought they had to go somewhere but didn’t know where. They had been driving for hours before being located and escorted home.

“It speaks to how much we work as a team,” says Ginny. “I overheard the other dispatcher taking the second call and we discussed it, pieced it together, concluding it was the same couple.”

Even though each day can be somewhat challenging, since you never know what’s going to happen, Ginny still enjoys her job 21 years later.

Ginny explains what it takes to be successful.

“To be good at this job,” says Ginny, “you need to be caring and empathetic. With everything I do, I try to be respectful as I possibly can with the public, as well as our police officers.”

“In a heart beat,” says Ginny. “I would recommend this job to others. It’s a great organization. We look after our peers. We care about our work family.”

Ginny says the people in the Southeast District Dispatch Centre work as a team. If someone took a difficult call, the team discuss it and help the dispatcher process it.

“When a caller dials 9-1-1, we are the first voice that they hear,” says Ginny. “We set the tone. We represent the RCMP. We represent all 9-1-1 Police Dispatchers, and the Southeast District Dispatch Centre.” 

Going the extra mile

It’s something that’s intrinsic to all 9-1-1 Police Dispatchers – the fundamental desire to help people. But it is more than just the desire to assist someone. A dispatcher routinely steps far beyond providing aid. It’s about ensuring someone is safe and protected and doing whatever it takes to find them the help they need to make the situation better.

Dispatchers must have a vast roster of resources: people and organizations in the community that they can call for support. They know the schools, taxi and tow truck companies, emergency and medial services, and often know their staff by name.

One such 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher is Patricia who works at the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre in Prince George.

“I received a call from a mother who had very ill child who needed immediate emergency medical attention,” says Patricia, “I remember it was in the middle of winter in a bitterly cold ice storm and the highway was closed.”

The woman lived in a rural and remote area and needed to get to the large city hospital. With whiteout conditions and the closure of the highway, she took the back roads but ended up getting stuck in a ditch. She called 9-1-1 for assistance. There were no tow trucks were venturing out until the storm subsided but Patricia wondered if there was a highway maintenance truck in the area sanding the roads. She contacted the maintenance company and asked if their truck could go to the area and help get the woman’s car moving again. The company agreed and the truck pulled the vehicle out of the ditch, then drove in front of her car, sanding the roadway until she was safely on her way to the hospital. Patricia stayed on the line with the mother the entire time.

“Two days later, there were flowers on my desk from the mother,” said Patricia. “I didn’t expect that. I was just doing my job. But it made me realize how impactful it was for me to think outside the box to help her to get her child to the hospital safely.”

It’s this sense of duty—of going the extra mile—that sets dispatchers apart.

The North District 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre serves all regions of northern BC and the dispatcher must have knowledge of the local geography and the communities they serve.

It is a dispatcher’s job to get as much information as possible, which can be difficult if the caller is frantic.

A quick way to calm the caller down if they are panicking is to give them a small task to do to focus on something else which can de-escalate the stress level.

Once again in a nasty snowstorm, Patricia took a call in the middle of the night from a young girl who was about 18, the same age as Patricia’s daughter at the time. She had driven from Fort St. John to Dawson Creek for a party and was on her way home.

The young girl had taken unfamiliar back roads and her car got stuck in the snow. She didn’t know what road she was on. Having come from a party, she was not dressed for the weather, wearing a light jacket, skirt and ankle boots. She was walking down the road crying.

The cell service in the area was poor and when the call dropped, Patricia was able to ping her cellphone to get a general location. By the time Patricia was able to reach her cell again, she had walked along the road and spotted a farmhouse. She knocked on the door but no one answered. There was no address on the rural property.

“I asked her if she saw a vehicle parked in front of the house,” said Patricia. “She did so I asked her to tell me the licence plate number.”

Patricia tracked down the name and address and phone number of the registered owner.

“I phoned the residence, woke up the homeowner, and explained the circumstances,” says Patricia.

The woman went outside to look for the young girl who, by that time, had gone into the barn to keep warm. The woman brought her into her home to keep her warm and safe.

“That’s what I am proud of,” recalls Patricia. “I knew that the cell coverage was spotty and I really had to leverage what little information I could use to find the farmhouse. The licence plate number was the breakthrough I needed to locate her.”

Having the homeowner graciously bring her into her home until her mom could come to take her home, was a blessing.

“I just kept thinking that if it was my daughter, what would I want someone to do to help her,” said Patricia.

“That’s how I have conducted my career,” Patricia adds. “To provide that high quality of service, I think to myself, ‘What if it was my family member in trouble? What would I want the 9-1-1 police dispatcher do to help them?’”

However, not all callers are gracious or grateful. Some really difficult callers can be rude, belligerent or intoxicated.

“I’ve had to put myself in to someone else’s shoes and recognize that they are someone’s child, dad, sister, uncle, grandmother,” says Patricia. “I try to recognize that they are going through a really tough time. When someone calls 9-1-1, we are here to assist them, not judge them.”

There are times when something doesn’t turn out as they would like it to.

“We can’t fix the problem,” she adds. “We can only assist as much as we can and know we have done everything we could in our power to assist. That puts everything into perspective.”

In her 17-year-career, Patricia has held a number of positions. Three years after she became a dispatcher, Patricia became a field coach to assist new dispatchers to learn and develop their skills. It takes about one year to become a dispatcher so she got to know the new people very well. Then she became a shift supervisor, assisting dispatchers during high priority situations and managing the team.

“Along the way, I had some great opportunities,” says Patricia. “I worked at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the 2015 Canada Winter Games when they came to Prince George.”

She was also the Emergency Response Team dispatcher, colloquially known as “ERT Comms.” ERT receives all the most difficult calls. She would be deployed with these elite, highly trained members would be in the Command Post on scene with the Critical Incident Commander and the negotiators. She was also the scribe, recording what transpired, compiling the information from all sources. She provided the critical link between the officers on scene and the Commander.

“It was a privilege to work with this team of dedicated professionals,” Patricia recalls.

She has come full circle now in the role recruiter giving the Career Presentation to prospective dispatchers sharing her love of the career.

9-1-1 Police Dispatchers come from all walks of life. They are a varied group of individuals, all with a common goal and purpose. Helping people.

“Because we are all different, we bring something unique to the table,” Patricia adds. “We work as a team to ensure that everything that can be done, will be done to help the caller.”

Just like playing a video game

Ezra has been a 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher for less than three years but his passion for the work spills out as he recalls some of the calls he has taken.

One of the first calls he took as a Police Dispatcher was only five seconds long. Someone was being stabbed. He snapped into action to send police to the scene.

“I love being part of something that is so real – so tangible,” says Ezra. “You know you are doing something that matters.”

The fast-paced environment of a 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre suits Ezra. He likes the ever-changing stream of work. For two and half years, Ezra dispatched at the North Island 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre in Courtenay. He started right after studying Criminology at SFU. Earlier, when he was in high school, Ezra attended the RCMP Bootcamp and he got the policing bug. But a friend’s dad, who happened to be an RCMP officer, told him about the exciting and diverse world of police dispatching. Ezra also likes the fact that the job has mobility built right in. He recently transferred to the BC RCMP Headquarters Dispatch Centre in Surrey.

9-1-1 police dispatching requires someone who is skilled in multitasking. Ezra describes what is required when he deploys the Police Dog Service to a scene where a suspect is on the run.

“The RCMP police officer will ask the dispatcher to set up a containment for tracking,” says Ezra. “We have to bring up the area on our maps, then cross-reference with street-view maps to see what is in and around the area.”

The dispatcher places the police officers in different containment points surrounding the suspect. The dispatcher tracks the dog handler’s movements and informs the officers in which direction the dog is moving. The officers move in formation as the dog moves.

“It’s called a moving containment,” Ezra explains. “You have to be fast and accurate. It’s exhilarating. I don’t think people realize how involved dispatchers are in an active incident. We are constantly problem solving.”

The dispatcher is truly police officers’ life line.

To excel as a police dispatcher, you need to foresee what the police officer will need before they ask and have it already done. Dispatchers will ping cellphones, run queries on police databases, look for the recent history of the suspect. The dispatcher makes sure the officers have all the information they need to at the scene.

“We help the police connect the dots,” says Ezra. “The officer is dealing with the people at the scene and can’t do the research on the suspect or the area. They rely on us to do that.”

In addition to working with the police, dispatchers have to also think who else needs to be informed. When two children wandered away from their home, Ezra researched who their family and friends were for the officers. Then he contacted taxis, schools, BC Ferries, the airport, ambulance, and tow trucks, describing what the children looked like and asking them to be on the look out for the pair.

Multitasking is only part of it. As a dispatcher, you have at minimum three sources of input coming to you all at once. You could be taking a call from the public, calling for the ambulance, all while the officer is talking to you on the secure radio channel.

“You learn to have a split ear so you know what is happening in the Dispatch Centre, what the officer is saying on the radio, and what the caller is saying on the phone,” says Ezra.

In addition to listening to several channels, dispatchers must monitor multiple screens showing who are on shift, where the officers are located, the maps of the region, search databases, and the public calls to 9-1-1.

We know that 9-1-1 police dispatchers play a critical role in helping those often calling in their darkest hours. Ezra recalls some of the highly impactful calls that left quite an impression on him.

“The most frightening thing for a dispatcher to hear is a 10-33 call over the radio,” says Ezra. “Because one of our greatest roles is to ensure officer safety.”

A 10-33 call alerts dispatchers and police that an officer needs help—immediately.

When an officer presses that button on their radio, an alarm goes off at all the desks in the 9-1-1 Police Dispatch Centre and every officer in the area hears the alarm.

In this incident, the traffic officer said, “I’ve been hit.”

“My heart stopped for a second,” says Ezra. “I could feel my adrenaline kick in. I had to take a second and take a few deep breathes so I could hear everything the officer said. I also slowed my voice down so he could hear me clearly.”

He confirmed who the officer was and his location then told the officer, “Help is on the way. We are sending every officer we have in the area. I’ve called fire and ambulance. They’re on their way, too.”

The first responders arrived quickly and helped the officer whose vehicle had been rear ended at a high rate of speed. He was safe.

Nothing could be more confusing than to have a shooter in a crowded mall but when Ezra got the call reporting that there was man planning to shoot someone, he jumped into action.

“The mall was packed and the possibility of injuring others was very high,” says Ezra. “Mall security was trying to help but they didn’t know where the shooter was.”

Multiple police officers and dog teams arrived and the mall was put in locked down or “hold and secure.”

Ezra called the Fire Service and BC Ambulance Service and contacted the local bus service as the mall also served a major commuter hub. He then set up a moving containment with the police including a police dog and its handler.

The police teams followed the shooter out of mall and located him with an replica firearm and arrested him.

Unfortunately, not all calls end positively. Ezra had difficult call from a local residence who said his wife was choking.

“I transferred the call to the ambulance service, but I stayed on the line, as I knew where they lived was fairly remote and it would take a long time for the ambulance to arrive,” remembers Ezra.

The emergency medical services dispatcher instructed the husband what to do, but regrettably, his wife died before paramedics could reach her. Dispatchers have to figure out what would bring them comfort after these types of calls. And there is no harm in asking for help. Dispatchers support one another like family.

In addition to being physically active playing volleyball and bouldering, Ezra is a couple’s photographer.

“I take engagement photos and portraits,“ says Ezra. “It’s a way to meet people before they get married.”

He likes to photograph the couple outside in the natural light where he can be more creative and artistic.

“Rather than talking to people on their worst day,” says Ezra, “I am photographing people on the best day.”

When he first started, he asked a supervisor what dispatching was really like and he said it was just like a video game.

“As a 9-1-1 police dispatcher,” says Ezra. “you are responsible for maintaining officers’ status timers, running queries, calling external agencies for multiple officers on multiple radio channels, all while dispatching the officers’ calls for service. We also are taking both emergency and non-emergency calls.”

As in a video game, there are multiple moving pieces, each with inherent challenges that must be conquered. Dispatchers can boost their self-esteem as they learn to master it all.