Not all heroes wear capes.
Clarke County is full of heroes who never receive enough recognition for the contributions they make. One set of those heroes is none other than the 911 Dispatchers, and there is no better time to recognize the amazing work they do each day than 911 Dispatcher Appreciation Week, April 10-16.
The job of a dispatcher is extremely important, and in order for them to even take on the role, there are a series of tests and trainings to go through to make sure they are truly up for the job.
“To become a dispatcher, we do background checks. We do criminal histories, which is like the background check. We train. After you go through a three month training, we then determine if we see potential to be a dispatcher. We give a test. If you pass that test, we’ll go through a training process and get you hired in under the board for 90 days as part-time. If there is a full time position open and we see from the training staff that there is potential for the person to go full time, then you go full time,” explained Clarke County Communications Director Jackie Matthews. “Within the time a person is hired, we have a year to get the person certified with the state. In other words, we have to send the person to a 40 hour class with the state that they have to pass. If the person doesn’t pass it, they can’t be a dispatcher. During that time, we are still doing all the background checks, and a person can’t have anything on their record—no tickets or anything. If by chance the person has a ticket and that comes out, we have to send it to the state. If the board there deems it as okay, then the person can continue to work.”
Each dispatcher knows the importance of the job and takes that responsibility very seriously. They diligently use their training to select the correct responders to help.
“We’re not perfect, but we strive to be. Because it’s very important, we can’t send somebody to the wrong address. We’re not rude with anybody. We may be firm because if someone calls hollering and screaming, it helps to be able to get their attention to get them some help. We’ll be firm, but we won’t be rude,” continued Jackie. “It takes a lot of patience. You have to have a mind to want to help people. You have to be willing to work flexible and sometimes long hours. You have to be willing to help the public. That’s what we’re here for. Every call that comes in anywhere in the county comes through here. There are several thousand people in the county, and we help with people out of state travelling through the county and even neighboring counties when we’ve received some of their calls. We get every call and determine whether a call needs to go to the fire department, EMS, police, game warden, highway patrol, etc. It just depends, and we have to make that determination.”
With the type of calls they must answer every day, they must pay close attention to their mental strength. They have to be mentally prepared for any call they may receive so that they can offer the most effective assistance in dispatching help that they can.
“You have to have a strong mind because sometimes you do deal with getting calls from family members. You have to be able to handle and dispatch that call. We hear a lot. We see a lot. Even though we’re behind the scenes, we still hear a lot. Some dispatchers have heard guns going off on the other end of the line while on a call,” described Jackie. “You cannot panic during the call. If you panic, you will mess up. In order to get people help, you have to have a stable mind. I tell my workers not to bring their problems from home to work and not to take work home. To handle it, we do have courses that we go to for stress management to be able to help. Prayer is the big key.”
Lory Herrington, one of the dispatchers, has had plenty of experience taking difficult calls and having to calmly work through them.
“I’ve worked here for 14 years and have worked every type of call that has come in,” stated Lory. “No matter how long I’ve been here, there still could be something new called in that I’ve never worked before. You just never know when you answer the line. It could be your friend or relative or anything. You have to be prepared when you’re working because you never know what you’re going to get. You just have to be ready and work through that call. I’ve taken some bad calls, and you just have to work through it and keep your composure over the phone.”
They do their best to maintain professionalism during the worst of calls, but it would help for the community to keep in mind that while they dispatch help, the dispatchers have no control over who is available to go out at any given point. Even if they are unsuccessful on dispatching assistance on the first try, they never give up and work quickly to send out help as soon as they can.
“People call in to 911 needing help. Some are rude and think that the dispatcher can just make the responders get up and go like that. They have to realize that respond with the fire departments and all that volunteer. Some work, may not be at home, or don’t have their radios with them. They may get it on their phone, but if they’re out of pocket they can’t respond. If that’s the case, we have to try to find somebody else to respond or page another department,” informed Jackie. “We just have to work until we can get someone headed that way. It may seem like it’s been a long time, but most of the time it has only been about five minutes. When someone needs help, that seems like a long time and we understand that. We just need the public to know we’re working as fast as we can. We ask a lot of questions when people call in because it’s our job to ask all those questions so we know who to send. The dispatchers are trained to listen to certain things people say so that they’ll know exactly what to do and can let the help know what’s going on.”
The dispatchers love their job and helping as many people in the county that they can. While they may not physically be behind a desk, they do much more than simply answering phones.
“The best part of the job is helping the people of the county. Knowing that you sent somebody the help they need and they got that help is a great reward. It’s rewarding to know you did all that you could do,” proclaimed Jackie. “A lot of people think dispatchers are just there to answer the phone, but there’s a lot more to it than that. If we have someone suicidal call in, we try to keep them on the phone and keep them calm and just try to talk to them until some help can get there. We all have to be certified in different areas, and sometimes they have to talk people through different situations until the help actually arrives.”
They are masters of multitasking and must take on a multitude of responsibilities at the same time while being as accurate as possible since their response can have a major impact on the results of an emergency.
“We have to answer the radios, our channels, 911, admin lines, and we have to dispatch while we’re doing all that. You have to have the ear for your traffic. You may be on the phone with someone on 911 who’s dying. You may have an officer on a traffic stop with someone who is wanted, meaning that they’re a fugitive. You have to have an ear, and it all has to be logged. If you don’t log it, it doesn’t happen. You don’t know what all might have to go to court because any of it could be subpoenaed at any time,” described Lory. “Storms are awful. If you have tornadoes coming through and trees down, we have every channel we’re working highlighted almost: road crew, fire department, PD, etc. It’s unreal. We also deal with AirCare. If there is a wreck or accident and they need AirCare, a lot of times we have to communicate with AirCare and let them know where they can land.”
Not everyone can handle being a dispatcher. For those who wear that superhero mantle, it can only be described as a calling.
“My belief is it’s a calling, not a job. I think God gives you gifts and that this is a gift to me. Sometimes you don’t realize you have the calling until you get in here. I was waiting tables at Long’s Fish Camp when there was an opening here that someone told me I should apply for. There are days I don’t like it, but I love it,” proclaimed Lory. “You have to pray before you go in, before you go out, and even while being here. I’ve been on the phone and had people call in with something bad. I’m not a perfect person, but I will pray for that person calling in. We aren’t there and don’t always know what the outcomes are.”
As good as they are at their jobs, the dispatchers must constantly stay up to date with classes to help benefit them even more. They have to continuously train while they work and become recertified as dispatchers every three years if they plan to maintain their role as dispatcher.
“During your tenure as a dispatcher, you have to have continuing education hours with the state. We have to get recertified every three years,” discussed Jackie. “We’re starting to take some Spanish classes now for dispatch. With Latinos or Spanish speaking individuals moving into the county, we have a problem if they were to call 911 because there is no one here who speaks Spanish. We have to know so much Spanish to be able to find out what type of emergency they have and see if they can speak English. They will teach us enough Spanish to get an emergency situation solved. It’s a 16 hour class, and eventually every dispatcher will take it.”
While they continue their education, the dispatchers can also see where more education could be beneficial to the community as well. It isn’t uncommon for them to have to take 911 calls from children, and they know the importance of people in the community teaching children vital information that would be needed if they were to ever call 911.
“People really should teach children the basics about 911. It’s important for kids to learn their address, the color of their house, their mom and daddy’s name or whoever they live with. That’s important because even if they don’t know their address, if they know the name of the person they live with, we may be able to look that address up. They need to know the name of the school they attend and that sort of thing,” explained Lory. “Parents should also know that if they remove a sim card from a phone and hand a phone with no sim card or number and is no longer in use to a child, that phone can still call 911 because we receive back to back calls from kids using deactivated phones all the time.”
Despite dispatchers being the first ones spoken to when there is an emergency, the state does not identify them as first responders. Without them, though, there would be no response. Gaining the title of first responder could also provide them with more benefits and opportunities.
“Dispatchers are not known as first responders as far as the state is concerned. The Mississippi 911 Coordinators Association is working on trying to get dispatchers known as first responders,” expressed Jackie. “It can be done on a local level, and I’m trying to find out how to do that just for Clarke County so that our folks can be known as first responders. There would be more classes and help if we were classified as first responders.”
With everything that goes in to being a dispatcher, Clarke County should be proud to say it has some of the finest. They are hard-working and care about everyone in the county, which is why Jackie refers to them as superheroes as well.
“My dispatchers love their job,” professed Jackie. “I encourage my dispatchers to continue on with their hard work and know that even though they’re behind the scenes, they’re still superheroes in my book. I love all my people, and they really work so hard.”
