Dispatch

When I got to the station I met with Lt. Rhode, he told me all about his 18 years on the force. How it sort of happened on accident, how he was a teacher for 2 years and then decided to try law enforcement for a change. I was interested of course, explaining that I didn't want to be tied down and get stuck, not just in law enforcement, but anywhere.

He showed me around, from the fire station, to the mayor's office, from the dispatch center to the jail and the two courthouses. He was even beside himself with joy about the four new police chargers. I can say with certainty that you won't find many senior project sponsors who will lock you in a jail cell on the first day and leave you in there with the lights off just to show you what it's like to be on the other side of the law.

For the first three days I spent time in the dispatch center, something that I think is often overlooked when people consider law enforcement. I met Lee first, a charismatic woman who continuously told me that after I finished college I should go to law school. The first afternoon in dispatch was a long one, there were ties of no activity which were filled with officers coming in and out, and Elopoulos, who Lee affectionately called Eli, telling jokes to everyone in there, before he had to run because he happened to be in the traffic car that day. So far Eli is my favorite police officer, he's witty and gave me a hard time right away because apparently I'd gotten him in trouble because I'd asked Lt. Rhode 'what that cop was doing in dispatch' and 'was he just hanging out', his words, certainly not mine.

Once Eli left, Lee and I hung out, talked about food, kids these days, and life in general in between calls. Angela, who as it turned out was the perfect balance of hard working and kind, and hilarious, came down and worked with Lee sometimes when there were too many calls. Angela said she loved her job, but everyday she'd ask to leave early, she loved diet coke more than she loved her husband, and occasionally complained about one of the officers calling her Bam-Bam from the Flintstones.

Dispatch is a lot more complicated than I originally thought. The dispatcher has to take every call, both 911 and the department's calls, write reports, send cop cars, fire trucks, and ambulances out when necessary  create files, be accurate, all in a matter of minutes. If you thought you were tech savvy, you were wrong.

By the end of the day, when part timers were coming in and lawyers were dropping by to say hi, I really did start to feel comfortable at the station. There also seemed to be gossip going around about the 'bearhug' incident, and apparently someone got hurt and photoshop was involved. I realized then and there that my first line of investigation was going to be what happened with that incident.