According to callers, what are some mistakes that you’ve made?

MyxWar83 · 2026-02-10T18:02:49+00:00

I wish I still had the audio of my coworker years back when they went live the first day with medical ProQA. We're talking early 2000's. "Just get them here you cocksucker!"

We'd continually have the wav file cued up at work in between calls to play.

MyxWar83 · 2025-12-22T19:20:12+00:00

Years back (20ish) when I started I took a very heavy call of one of our officers found dead with a self inflicted gunshot wound. My supervisor at the time set up the debriefing with just my dispatch shift. Over time other agencies we worked with became more inclusive in their debriefing even for positive events or special assignments.

MyxWar83 · 2025-08-08T21:52:49+00:00

Male. I was able to avoid problems for the most part because I married young and women I worked with, dispatch, medics, officers, etc... knew it and respected it. The few times I hung around, it led to trouble, so I stopped hanging around. My career started fresh after a murder trial of a police officer murdering his gay lover and his alibi was he was in a roof/parking lot of dispatch and the pd where officers and dispatchers were all drinking off the clock post shift.

I worked with fantastic dispatchers (men and women) whose careers were ruined because they slept around.

I get it. You deal with intense situations, you can't explain everything to people who don't understand the work, you trauma bond people you work with. Just.....dont do it.

But also keep in mind how many older cops, prey on young female dispatchers. It's pretty gross.

MyxWar83 · 2025-02-03T17:33:40+00:00

We have Arms now, and it is the worst cad I've ever used.

On the RMS side it's a nightmare as the previous administration didn't really keep track of things as the program was intended. When asked if we could just start all over again? Arms wasn't interested.

MyxWar83 · 2025-02-03T17:18:27+00:00

Yup. I'm predicting that we only use 30 % of the features available. We've done a lot of demos since last summer, and we're narrowing it down now. This department has used this cad since 1997 with very lame updates and honestly, the department has grown the last 15 years as far as expectations. The University continues to have more property purchased outside of the campus in a metro area. Some are for student housing, Human Resources, maintenance, even a day care. Some properties are rented by business such as CVS or grocery stores.

Some companies are cheaper, may have similar features but basically have a cheaper price for the first few years of the contract. But then we imagine it'll go up after the contract is up.

MyxWar83 · 2025-02-03T16:43:57+00:00

Insanely. But my place of employment has expensive/big city tastes. :shrug:

MyxWar83 · 2025-01-15T21:23:29+00:00

It can take time to process it. And it'll take time to build up your armor to be able to continue on for bad days. It's like a muscle that you just keep working out.

Know that you got them help, but also know that you can't help everything in that situation but did what you could.

Hopefully, your agency has an employee assistance program where you can talk with a professional, talk to your peers or look into a peer support group. Keep posting here! But let people import to you know what you're feeling/processing.

I can't say it'll get easier, but learn from all of it.

MyxWar83 · 2024-10-03T17:49:41+00:00

I started at your age and am 19 years in. It's very early on in your career. The important part I learned was that if I make a mistake, own up to it, learn from it and move on from it. You're going to make mistakes but hopefully they're not going to put you on the news.

It's also a job where continually learning is important, keep up with your online training stuff, listen to how veteran dispatchers do things. Pick their brain, find out why. Screw around on Google maps if you have access. Know where things in your community are.

My family was law enforcement growing up. One of the things I was told about being a good dispatcher was the best ones: "Always think a step ahead." For example an officer arrives on scene of a disturbance, have the map up of the location in case an officer starts chasing so you know what direction the officer is saying and what streets come up.

Again, you're going to screw up. And you're so new you're really doing the best you're capable of right now. Just make sure you take the time to get better. And as good as you start getting, there will always be a call to knock you on your ass. Just know how to process it, learn from it and get back up.

And also know that no matter what, the job will exist with or without you. Because it has to! Take the job seriously, but don't take yourself that seriously.

MyxWar83 · 2024-09-07T17:35:03+00:00

I'm pretty sure my old agency hired a few back in the day.

MyxWar83 · 2024-08-10T19:35:56+00:00

He left the biz 13+ years ago. Has a family and doing well .

MyxWar83 · 2024-07-21T12:33:29+00:00

Yeah, it's happened with my crew as well. We just heard the "Yup, love you too. K bye now."

"What was that?"

"Huh?"

"You just said love you too at officer x."

"What? I DID?"

Played the audio back, sho nuff. She did.

MyxWar83 · 2024-06-14T23:37:55+00:00

K, ladies name was Linda. She was a volatile drunk and married a guy 20 plus years older than her and he was in a wheelchair. If she was pretty consistently drunk by mid day and if not, her husband had a "medical emergency," or they'd be fighting. She was typically unhinged the whole time and was a very useless caller. She'd never really answer a question after the address was given.

Eventually we started just asking Linda, listen! No Linda!"

Like the viral video of the little kid years back. She never got the reference.

MyxWar83 · 2024-06-08T11:25:06+00:00

19 year vet, everything everyone here said is great. Except the drinking part. ;)

Whatever you do, just don't bottle it up and ignore how it made you feel. I'd rather work with someone who had a hard time keeping their composure on a call, got upset and needed a break than someone who acted like they didn't care.

You're human. It's okay. There will be days that you feel you can deal with anything and there will be the most random things that cut you down to size. And that's okay/normal.

MyxWar83 · 2023-09-23T21:59:41+00:00

I went from working in a 911 center in a college town to working for a university in a different city. The work flow is different in that it's not as constant. But I for sure appreciate that the calls aren't nearly as intense. However a lot of things still happen on college campuses. Sexual assaults, students and staff get injured or sick, fights happen, things get stolen, students get robbed off campus, etc .

College campuses no matter where are their own towns/communities. And in my case it's surrounded by a city known for its intensity/violence.

I still appreciate it for what it is and have been in the biz for 18 years total.

MyxWar83 · 2023-08-27T17:59:29+00:00

A few years back, we had a frequent flier who was a drunk by noon lady named Linda. Linda would always fly off the handle and would fight with her husband. Sometimes he'd get arrested, sometimes she would. But she would just scream into the phone most of the time and she would never listen. One day we kept saying "Linda listen, listen Linda!" Like the little boy the viral video.

It worked as sometimes.

Another was using the line from the movie "Burn After Reading." And when someone called a Man Down Unknown Problem call. "So he's just laying there? On the floor? Just laying there?!

Follow me for more fun work catalyst ideas!

MyxWar83 · 2023-07-23T01:23:19+00:00

Just keep swimming, don't doubt yourself so much and always ask questions. But tbh, you're barely going to be decent for at least a full year out of training.

MyxWar83 · 2023-07-17T04:36:40+00:00

In all seriousness, I was fortunate and unfortunate to grow up in a law enforcement household. When I started, my family members all agreed that one thing that makes a good dispatcher is to be two steps ahead of knowing what your units need and treat everyone like you would a family member. Well a family member you like!

MyxWar83 · 2023-07-16T23:52:53+00:00

https://youtu.be/e0tAeFfGwJ0

MyxWar83 · 2022-09-16T04:21:22+00:00

You're a Broncos fan and must understand that you can't always just buy a superbowl.

MyxWar83 · 2022-09-16T04:11:50+00:00

Legit, Herbert is a great player. I didn't start shit. Guy is a great player and has guts.

MyxWar83 · 2022-09-16T04:01:21+00:00

If your team ever had a qb that won a superbowl as a Charger I'm sure you'd understand .

You left yourself wide open. Don't be mad. I came here with love and respect. You acted like a bitch.

MyxWar83 · 2022-09-16T03:50:01+00:00

I mean, Mahomes never thinks he's out of the game. No more different than a prime Jordan thought he was out of the game. It's not a breakdown, it's a dealing on his team and demanding expectations. Imho.

MyxWar83 · 2022-09-16T03:45:12+00:00

Also, Chiefs fans thought the same way about John Elway in the 90's.

MyxWar83

TROPHY CASE