9-1-1, What's your emergency?

I am a public safety dispatcher. That voice on the other end of the phone when you call for police, fire, emergency medical services, the state police, or a whole lot of other things. It is my job, and my duty to make your life better, safer, healthier, happier. This is the hardest job I have ever loved.

I worked out of the Bethel Alaska Police department, where I dispatched calls to the Bethel PD. the Bethel Fire Dept. and EMT's, and after hours, the Alaska State Troopers. I was the only dispatcher on shift in the only Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) in an area the size of the state of Oregon. The calls that I took came from native villages 300 miles away, or the house across the street, and all the territory in-between. And that is a lot of tundra!

The men and women of the fire, police, ambulance and other first responder services who are out there every single day, every single hour dealing with things that most people would never believe even exist in this world...or any other. Working with them, seeing their strength and good hearts is inspiration that you don't get anywhere else. Period.

Click here to be taken to the Amber Alert Center, where information on missing and endangered children from all over the US is gathered and broadcast. Amber Alerts save kids. And there is no way of knowing who will be the observant person that makes the connection - and the recovery. Not everyone is cut out to be a police officer, fireman, EMT, or even a dispatcher. But each and every one of us can be a first responder to an Amber Alert!

"I want to report a robbery" Female caller, intoxicated.
After the usual name, location, etc. questions, I asked,"And what exactly was stolen"
"My phone"
"Just your phone?"
"Yes! Just my phone!"
"What kind of phone was it, m'am?"
"My house phone."
"Did it happen to look anything like the one in your hand?"
Long pause.
"Oh."
Click.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As a supervisor, I was the person responsible for training all the new dispatchers. I managed to achieve near-Nostradamus fame with this little speakerphone exchange about 5 AM one morning, with two dumbfounded trainees present.

Bethel Police Department, how can I help you?
"I need to know how to pay a ticket I got for not stopping at a red light."
"Sir - you need to call (203) 743-5500. They can assist you."
"Whose number is that?"
"That is the number for the police in Bethel, Connecticut. That's who you needed, wasn't it?"
"Well, yes, but who did I call?"
"This is the police department in Bethel, Alaska."
"ALASKA?!?!?!? Oh my God!"
Click.

As my two trainees stood there, I patiently explained that
A) We frequently got wrong long-distance calls for the police in Bethel CT, since people only google Bethel Police, and the listings come up alphabetically- Alaska coming before Connecticut, and people don't stop and read the entire address.
B) I knew he didn't mean us, because he had a ticket for running a red light. We have no red lights, or any traffic signals in town. So he had to want another police department.

One of the most impressive things about Alaska is just how much sky there is in the sky. Out on the tundra, you can, on a clear day, see literally hundreds of miles, turning a full circle and seeing horizon at every hand. For someone who grew up squished into New Jersey - this vista never ceased to amaze me. Sky features are impossibly big, bright and wonderful as well- full moons the size of oranges, and just that color, eclipses, and the Northern Lights... I do miss the sky over Alaska. However, it can be deceiving, as this caller demonstrates.

9-1-1 What is your emergency?
I need a cop here right now, RIGHT NOW!
pause for name and address
What's the problem, m'am?
There is a big UFO right over my house and the aliens are going to induct me.
The aliens?
Yes! (implication of 'you idiot') They are coming out of their UFO and I am going to be inducted!
Can you describe one of these aliens, m'am?
No! They are invisible. But I know they are coming to induct me NOW- HURRY UP and get a cop over here!
Click.

I dispatched an officer to do a "welfare check". Something obviously was not right here...but before he could arrive on scene, 9-1-1 went off again.

9-1-1, What is your emergency?
I just called about the aliens inducting me?
Yes...go ahead...
They aren't. I went to see if the cops were here yet and saw the UFO and it's a full moon and I don't want a cop here to check out the full moon, so tell him not to come over.
Click.

Well, our standing orders were that ALL 9-1-1 calls get an officer response, so I radioed the unit and relayed the follow up call. There was that particular dead air pause that indicated that the officer was cracking up and was waiting to regain some control before keying the mic again. 10-4, he acknowledged.

(Note - that particular dead air can also be caused by the officer having a moment of unsafe at any speed language...a dispatcher doesn't need to be on the job long to get to know how to read the silences as easily as the verbal traffic!)

Dispatchers and the units they talk to often sound as if they are robots or cyborgs, communicating in some arcane code. Lots of numbers and series of words that make no sense, even though they are in English. Anyone with a scanner has heard this- "All units, respond to 123 Alpha Broad St. Possible 10-32."
"PD, Bravo 9, 10-76. 10-77 2"
"Bravo 9, copy. Be advised, 10-56 male on scene."
"10-4"

or something like that, just enough plain talk to be tantalizing...but why are they going to 123 A Broad Street? And what about that male on scene? Are they talking in code just so we won't understand what's going on?

No, and yes.

10 codes, 12 codes, the phonetic alphabet, are all tools used to convey the maximum amount of information in the minimum amount of time with as little confusion as possible. Although while in training, you feel as though you have just landed in some alternate universe, and will never be able to ask where the bathroom is in the native language, it is not long at all before the standard codes become second nature, and even the lesser used ones are available on the end of your tongue when need arises. In fact, the codes become so ingrained, that in the office conversations between officers and dispatchers frequently consist of codes more than words! "So the 10-56 was completely 10-96 and by the time he was 10-26, I was sweating!"

(The intoxicated subject was out of his mind and by the time I had him in custody, I was sweating.)

This often catches a busy dispatcher off-guard, when communicating with people outside of the agency during a call. One task I routinely performed was to call relatives or friends of a person who was too intoxicated to care for themselves and see if that family would take them in for the night, rather than place the inebriated person in protective custody. How many times I caught myself on the brink of saying "He's completely 10-56, and cannot care for himself"... well, if I had a nickel for each time, the pile would reach the ceiling in a very big room!

There were some types of calls that we did not want the public to be aware of, calls that would prove to be upsetting to the family, or victim if their situation was known to the entire town. Sexual assault calls were always handled by number, and victim's names were never given over the radio. Attempted suicide calls, likewise. Gun calls were kept as quiet as possible. It is human nature to want to see what is happening, and the fewer rubberneckers on scene at a barricaded subject call, the more the officers could concentrate on the man with the gun and less on crowd control. So yes, there were times when the codes were used in the course of an active call to keep the public uninformed of the events that were unfolding.

All that changed as the result of 9-11. Sept. 11th. One of the lessons learned from that tragic scene was that radio communications between responding agencies have to work together. The buzz word is interoperability. Frequencies have to match up, and information has to be communicated in a manner that is understandable by everyone hearing it, whether they be police, fire, EMT, admin staff, whoever. So radio codes are being used less and less in favor of what is called "Clear Text" - or plain English. And while I have worked multiple department - (fire and police) incidents, and seen first hand the need for everyone to speak the same language, I have a certain nostalgia for the old 10 codes. So in memoriam, I will put a few of the best loved, or most used ones here...one of those markers along a scenic trail that tells the future how the past used to be.

A disclaimer note - these are the codes as used by the agency that I worked for. Other agencies used other 10 code lists.

10-1 Transmission bad, bad signal
10-2 Signal good, transmission legible
10-4 Acknowledged, OK, Yes, Understood, Received, I heard you! ;)
10-7 Off duty, out of commission, I hated to come in and see the note on the lavatory door - toilet 10-7
10-8 Available
10-9 Repeat last transmission
10-12 Stand by
10-13 Road conditions (a big one in Alaska)
10-20 Location (often just 20, as in "What's your 20?")
10-22 Disregard
10-26 Subject in custody
10-32 Subject with gun
10-55 Intoxicated Driver
10-56 Intoxicated subject (not driving)
10-76 en route
10-81 break (meal break)
10-96 Mental impairment

As a Public Safety Dispatcher, I handled calls for the police, the fire department, the paramedics and other emergency agencies as needed. One EMT call will stand out forever...

"9-1-1, What is your emergency?
My daughter hasn't been taking her meds. She is really erotic and I need some help with her."
" She's erotic?"
"She's completely out of control! Help me!"

I dispatched police and EMT units, repeating what the caller had reported. Exactly. I noted that my 2 responding officers, who were both female, handled the call as routine. However the all-male medic crew got there in record time!

When I first went to work at the Bethel PD, we broadcast straight over the channel. Everything we said, back and forth, could be heard by anyone with a police scanner- and most of the town possessed scanners, relying on them for a good part of their nightly entertainment. I had no idea how widespread this practice was until the 9th or 10th time someone would, out of the blue, whirl around in a store, or the post office, point at me and say, "You work for the Police Department!" I was beginning to think either it was tattooed on my forehead, or I would start having to wear a tin foil hat to keep all these people from reading my mind. As it turns out, it was my voice, and my New Jersey accent in bush Alaska that gave me away. And the addiction to scanners!

Scanners had their uses. In my first big fire call, after completing training, the fire chief asked me to find out where the boiler in the building was located. I had no idea how to do that- I knew we did not have blueprints of all the structures in town, or if we did, I had no idea where to find them. I was racking my brain to figure out this puzzle when the phone rang. It was the landlord of the building, who had been listening to the progress of the call via scanner, and had heard the request for information. The chief had other questions, and the answers were immediate.

On the other hand, serving arrest warrants is always a high risk call, and having the subject hear where the cars are arriving ...well...back windows and doors serve as escape hatches very nicely. Or, he may decide he isn't going quietly, and officers arrive to find him prepared with a weapon.

So the department decided to encode all radio traffic. People listening to scanners now would hear nothing but happy goldfish noises. And this upset them I handled more than one call where we were accused of cutting out the community on purpose - usually something like "Yeah- well, you knew we had cracked all your number codes, so now you did this! It's not fair! Go back to the old radios!"

Of course, encoding did take away a special moment once a year. In Alaska, Santa Claus has his own DMV listing, available through the same computer look-up system that dispatchers use to check on any driver's license status. On Christmas Eve, we would give the ADL (Alaska Driver's License) number to one of the officers, who would then make a "routine traffic stop" call about 8 PM or so. But the routine stop would soon become a high-speed chase, sirens wailing in the background, detailed descriptions of the turns, direction of travel, etc. FINALLY he would get the "speeder" pulled over, and start to read off the particulars. The dispatcher on duty would give the standard read back,

"Bravo 4, PD. 10-27 returns current, valid, class D. Last of Claus, First of Santa."
"PD, Bravo 4. Do we have a current res address on last of Claus?"
"Affirmative. Last of Claus last known res North Pole, Alaska"
"10-4"

Then...the radio silence. And you just knew all over town, kids were hanging onto every word from that scanner- was Santa REALLY going to get a ticket?

"PD, Bravo 4."
"Go ahead, Bravo 4"
"10-8, 10-24. Driver warned for excessive speed and unauthorized red headlight. Merry Christmas, Bethel !!!"

Those were good nights to be at work. Very good nights.

Late evening, and the traffic stops are few and far between. The town has been quiet for a couple of days, conditions which get dispatchers ready... for almost anything.

"Bethel Police Department, how can I help you?"
"Omigod, omigod, OMIGOD!"
"M'am, I need you to calm down and tell me what's wrong."
"Omigod, omigod, OMIGOD!"
"M'am, please. Take a deep breath. A long deep breath, and tell me what the problem is."
OH! It's horrible! It's... it's LOOKING IN THE WINDOW! OMIGOD!"
"M'am! Where do you live?"

She provided an address about a block from the station. All duty officers were on patrol, so they could have been anywhere in town. Pause for dispatch:

"All units respond to 123 Bulfinch Dr, Report of a prowler looking in the windows."

"All right m'am. I have officers on the way. Can you describe the prowler?"
" It's HUGE! It's head filled the window! Big and black!"
"How tall is the prowler?"
"Well, I guess my window is about 7 feet off the ground, and it was right there, so...7 feet?"
"Attention units: Caller reporting a 7 foot tall black subject. More to follow."
"OH! It's gone!"
"Can you tell which direction he is going?"
"It's headed down toward you guys."
"Toward the police station?"
"Yes!"
"What was the prowler wearing?"
"Wearing?"
"Yes m'am, How was he dressed?"

Just then, my office darkened as something huge passed by the window. I looked out in time to see the prowler, 7 feet tall and black, just as she said, and had the biggest set of antlers I have ever seen!

"M'am - was this a MOOSE?"
"Well, of course!"
"All units be advised. Subject is a loose moose, Last known 20, Station Parking Lot."

That moose remained on the loose in town for about a week. Moose hunting is a big part of subsistence living in the bush, so I guess the end of the story was inevitable. We just counted ourselves fortunate that the hunter was accurate, and didn't hit anything but the moose.

Alaska and Arkansas. Rack your brain for 10 seconds. How could those two possibly have anything in common? Enter Captain Obvious- they are both states! "I knew that" you grumble. And yes, at some level, you do.

But at a practical, operational level, those residing in "the lower 48's" or "downstates" don't grok the whole "Alaska is a realio-trulio state" with a governor, and a state capitol, and a state flag even! Or at least the ones that called me had missed the concept.

"Bethel Police Department, how can I help you."
"Hi! I'm calling from the United States!...pause...errr um...I mean North America."
"Alaska is in both. What can I do for you?"

After office hours, the Alaska State Trooper lines were transferred to our office in case of emergency. We had a stand-by trooper each night who would be informed of any major calls, but those calls had to be dire in nature. Life-or-death, search and rescue, significant threat to property, etc. Routine callers were all asked to call back the next morning. Another difficult concept for some people.

Call time 0510 (5:10 AM)
"Bethel police, how can I help you."
"Police!? I'm calling long distance and I want the State Troopers!"
"I am sorry sir, the trooper post is closed for the night. You will need to call the same number in the morning."
"CLOSED??? What the *%)$ is wrong with you people! Where are all the Troopers?"
"I imagine they are all still in bed, sir."
"WHAT THE &$*% !! STILL IN BED???"
"Yes, sir. It is 5:10 in the morning here."
"Well, what is that in REAL time?"

I dunno. It felt pretty real to me...

And the calls at random ...

"I am coming to Bethel next week from Virginia, and I had some questions. Should I get my money changed down here, or is there somewhere up there that I can do it?"
"Changed to what, sir?"
"You know, American money. Dollars and all that."

And the other connection between Alaska and Arkansas? People use AK for BOTH states when snail-mailing. If you want that card to go to Arkansas- better put AR. Oh, and if you put AL for Alaska...it will take the scenic route through Alabama instead,

AK - Alaska
AL - Alabama
AR - Arkansas

Create your own visitor map