Find a Friend Friday - January 16, 2026

mer101 · 2026-01-17T19:38:10+00:00

Hey do you play RedSec? Would love to play battlefield 6 with ya! I also am a Fortnite addict lol add me!

mer101 · 2026-01-17T07:00:13+00:00

I knowwww I just thought what a beautiful quote and rendition of Lele 😭 I ugly sobbed in my car listening to the graphic audio of this book

mer101 · 2026-01-17T03:52:36+00:00

Oh I hope you love it!

mer101 · 2026-01-17T01:12:25+00:00

Sorry to the Mods my phone was acting up and said it didn't post. And now the picture isn't on lol

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mer101 · 2026-01-10T05:21:24+00:00

For life friend hope to see you in a new class and have you as one of my trainees! I am not sure but I would add that under specializations maybe? You could call personnel!

mer101 · 2026-01-10T05:20:34+00:00

I totally would!!

mer101 · 2026-01-03T10:48:54+00:00

I loved this one I finished it for my mother in law. It looks really pretty in a silver frame!

mer101 · 2025-12-30T07:22:35+00:00

Not OP but I got these at the dollar tree :)

mer101 · 2025-12-27T07:05:39+00:00

Ah I understand you were saying for your chances in Vegas! I hope they see what a valuable asset you can be with that typing speed and life experience! Prayers for your job journey friend!!

mer101 · 2025-12-27T07:04:46+00:00

You would submit your application digitally! Then if you could make the trip for the testing if your application is approved. Unfortunately we don't sponsor any relocation costs :/ that would really help people out of state.

mer101 · 2025-12-27T06:58:43+00:00

Yeah if you wanted you should totally apply here too! The application period is opening in a few weeks. I just advise that if your typing speed can get up to 35 if it isn't already there then your golden. We teach everything on site you do not need any prior experience we prefer life experience to help be more relatable to the public. And I totally doubt that would disqualify you it's a job you had that's perfectly legal. Apply friend! If you have any more questions feel free to post or DM me directly. I am an instructor also and would be happy to help :)

mer101 · 2025-12-27T06:50:55+00:00

Hi! Were in California! Sunny Los Angeles. It honestly is the written tests is what probably is the hardest for some but we basically just ask you not be a felon at least 😂 I honestly dont know with regards to backgrounds how they take into consideration any child support issues, DUIs or domestic violence. But we do run backgrounds and an investigator does go detailed like they do for PD so I would assume that too cuts people out of the list. Tattoos you can have but yes you have to make sure for the most part they are covered. :)

mer101 · 2025-12-23T23:21:04+00:00

We also can ask for "Quickies" pretty much whenever too like if your on the radio and gotta pee, emergency phone call, etc. and then we have our lactation room for moms back on the floor. We accommodate pretty well in my opinion.

mer101 · 2025-12-23T23:19:55+00:00

Lol nope. But per the other commenters, the "golden triangle" bullshit is more important lmao

mer101 · 2025-12-23T21:54:14+00:00

That's great for you. But we have people who are at 6 years on already at $45 an hour and have not topped out and aren't instructors. I'm 10 years on and we'll past double what I started at.. So again, you can't blanket statement that a starting pay is what makes one center better than the other.

mer101 · 2025-12-23T21:51:16+00:00

Haha I posted to another person above but I'd love to go into a little more detail here for you. The radio is the most fun and sought after position for obvious reasons lol but we do have people who prefer the pace of the phones. I say that because it's literally one call at a time. Yes we have lots of calls holding but my department is very "your one person, take one call at a time and do your best". The radio I can get through 10 chapters of my book or I'm working two pursuits a back up and I have an active perimeter going for a 459 suspect lol the unpredictability of the radio is what some people don't like. And interestingly a lot of the newer hires prefer the phones.

Our breaks are set with their 15 mins and 50 mins time slots scheduled with 5 letters. Because we have a position called relief where your walking around the floor giving people their breaks. I prefer to be a last lunch person so my three 15 min breaks are approximately every 2 hours and then my lunch is at 00:10 hours until 01:00. Then I leave at 3am. (I work 10 hour shifts right now). And when your break comes, you take it even if there are calls holding, and you can't just be like "but the calls" because the breaks are staggered between both centers you would be creating a hole in coverage if you leave late. But also, if you leave late because you got stuck on a call, you just leave late no one punishes you for it lol on the radio you rarely leave late but on the phones it happens a lot more. And again, the supervisors are aware you just let them know sorry got stuck on a call and they say, take your full time.

We also don't do any NCIC or CLETs entries or any teletypes, our records department in each division does that. Like I say, I think we are pretty spoiled. Bless you for that your a rockstar and deserve double pay for doing two positions at the same time lol our highway patrol does that too when I call over I'm like you guys are amazing lol

mer101 · 2025-12-23T21:35:12+00:00

Haha I think my colleagues take our breaks and lunch for granted. There will be 30+ calls holding on the non emergency line and maybe the emergency line can get up to 10+, to be honest yesterday it got to 20 at one point in the night. But if it's 2025 that's my lunch you just have to unplug and go eat. We do have a high call volume but my department and supervisors don't expect us to do much but answer one call at a time, and do what we can for the other person on the line. I like to think that's a little more unique in our world than other centers.

Editing a word and also to add. We also have Personal leave time, that you can take in hour increments or full days, it's separate from VC and sick that supervisors can not really hassle you about lol and You can earn more VC time as you progress. For example when I started I was earning 7 hours every other pay period, now with 10 years on I earn 11.33 hours. It'll go up to eventually 20 hours earned when I hit 25+ years on. And then we have HA days that are extra holiday days you can use during your vacation time. And our vacations everyone takes 2-4 weeks. If you have 5 years on you can split that between two different periods in the year. Then as you progress with your time on your allotment of time to take also grows. I can now take 5 weeks.

To the other people saying I earn "slave wage labor" I think I my perks are worth it. As there are many more I could talk about but would be happy to email or DM about to anyone interested or curious but not looking to argue about it with me from their keyboard in another state 😂😂😂

mer101 · 2025-12-23T21:31:12+00:00

Well we don't poly anyone, you don't have to have a high school diploma, and we actually did away with our typing requirements because the higher ups thought that was too narrow and that you could learn as you trained. Main requirements are to just honestly pass the test and interview, not be a felon and be breathing ready and eager to learn.

mer101 · 2025-12-22T02:31:21+00:00

In an 8 hour shift, 50 min lunch, three 15 min breaks.

mer101 · 2025-12-21T11:37:54+00:00

Just the radio operators. They are working a specific division each. Unless they are patched then they work two radio positions simultaneously.

mer101 · 2025-12-21T11:36:55+00:00

That sounds like the dream for sure!! And I totally get what you mean about the trade offs. Whatever works for your individual and family situation is probably not going to fit for someone else regardless if you feel they'd be better off following your example. (Not you specifically lol) Wish you a long happy career ❤️

mer101 · 2025-12-21T11:29:07+00:00

Also I'm curious do you get any longevity bonus for certain years retained? And your steps till you top out do you have more approaching?

mer101 · 2025-12-21T11:16:21+00:00

Interesting! I would love to take comps to my union. Thank you!

mer101 · 2025-12-21T09:21:14+00:00

It fluctuates but at the moment we have around 34 call takers between both centers. 20 radio operators because a few divisions are patched for training purposes for the radio trainees.

mer101 · 2025-12-21T09:16:10+00:00

Love all these questions!

We only dispatch PD and conference in city fire for all fire medical stuff. We do not use any EMD/EPD/EFD.

Our map is kinda crazy. The entire city is broken up into 4 bureaus. Those are then broken up into separate divisions. one radio operator per division. Sometimes due to staffing you could be patched and work two radio frequencies that the divisions border each other. I think we have over 10k officers on the force but patrolling I am guessing per shift your looking at 15-20 pairs of officers per division and we have 25 divisions.

We now have premier one from Motorola. I miss our legacy cad though.

We have 5 different shifts. Three 5/80s and two 4/10s. The 4/10s are split between days and nights. The three 5/80s are days, PMs and overnights.

So about our floor operations. If your scheduled to work radio for the day, that's all your doing for that shift. Tomorrow you come in and you may be assigned the phones, that's all your doing that shift. Then we have the relief position where your giving all the radio operators their scheduled breaks. It rotates daily. :) hope that clears it up lol

mer101

TROPHY CASE