Dispatch Put Me Out with an Uncoopertative Subject; Unit Calling Your 10-1

[AvalancheZ71]

So I am out with someone who nearly hit me driving distracted and started not complying with my commands. I call in the encounter and all I get is unit calling your 10-1 unable to copy. How often has this happended to you?

[flhtbill]

A lot, but I know my partners are listening and one is on the way to me. It's difficult to take when I know I was clear and the dispatcher missed what I said. Back when I was first hired, they had us sit with a dispatcher for half a shift. It helps me understand why they missed what I said. Where I'm at the PD dispatcher could be answering 911 or on the radio with Fire or EMS. They do it all. There is no separate call taker.

[AppState]

Depends on how frequently Lifetime has on their favorite movies. Combine that with ****ty radios, and it happens more often than I like to think about.

They may not be listening, but like Bill said, my partners are, and they're gonna come running if I need help.

[allen_gamble]

I need dispatch to hear me when I run people or need call updates. When I need HELP, all I need is my partners to hear me. It's happened to me several times..

Me: "I've got one fighting!"
Dispatch: "10-9(repeat)"
the next thing i hear is my Cpl. acknowledging what I said and sirens coming from a couple blocks away.

On my shift we have 2 dispatchers who are our regulars and they are f-ing awesome! They know what we're gonna say before we say it. And they pick up on subtle things like the pitch of our voice, just like other officers do. Unfortunately, they often use my sector for training new dispatchers (trial by fire). Some of them make you want to slam your head on the hood of your car. I had one put me on a traffic stop in a different city (I'm city PD and don't leave the city), despite me being in one of the most major intersections in my sector.

Let's face it, Dispatch is a hard job and some people aren't cut out for it.

[allen_gamble]

But if you're truly 10-1 (and it's not just that the dispatcher didn't hear you) it could just be a dead zone or radio problems or something. In that case hopefully people heard where you were when you first went out on them.

[tanksoldier]

We have large areas with poor radio coverage in our county. You can be completely digital or not heard at all. It's just the reality of working in a rural jurisdiction. Hopefully your patrol partner will copy you direct... and not be 30 minutes away. A few nights ago we had two deputies on between 2200-0200 for an entire 2200 square mile county.

[CruiserClass]

It used to happen a lot, but once we went digital its a rarity now. We have a few, one in particular, who's more interested in chatting on the phone or shoving Cheesy Poofs down her gaping maw than paying attention to the radio, but as a rule they listen and know what's going on.

[NORCOCOP]

You may have just accidentally spoken in English. When I find many of their first languages is in fact wookie. Therefore, when you need to be heard and underrstood over the youtube cat video, Liftetime special, conversation with the bestie, or loud crunching of cheesy poofs, always speak in wookie. Just for for clarity and brevities sake of course.

It may take a little practice but it may save you or a friends life.

Kidding aside, if I haven't repeated myself three or more times I haven't been heard by dispatch. Our radios do not work on the lot of the PD , next to the radio tower.

[tj05]

Our dispatch is usually pretty good, our radios suck though. Once every couple of shifts I will have one mark me out at a different place then what I radioed in and I don't catch it until after the traffic stop.

[L-1]

Avalanche,

Just a thought here,

Why don't you go in, speak with the dispatch supervisor tactfully and tell them you are having concerns about "how well the radios are working in your patrol area." To that end, ask them to pull the dispatch tape for that event and play it for you, so you can get a first hand idea of whether you may have a dead spot on your patrol beat you need to be more cognizant of.

Doing it this way accomplishes your task while saving face for everyone. If you really were 10-1 then no harm, no four. You will not have made a fool of yourself complaining about something that was not the dispatcher's fault. OTOH, if you were 10-2 and the Comm Supervisor hears the dispatcher broadcast that you were 10-1, I'm sure you will get a polite, "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will take care of it."

[kermit315]

Trend analysis. Is it an all the time thing? If so, is it with the same dispatcher? Same location? Figure out the constants and work from that. There may not be a constant. As was said, radios are not perfect and we are all human.

Where I work, if we here somebody getting out with somebody we try to roll to it, requested or not, 'needed' or not, just as precaution, as long as we are not holding calls. If they call for it, holding calls will take a backseat.

[AvalancheZ71]

Unfortunately I know a little about radio and I appear to be in a dead zone in my area. I think it has more to do with the coverage and engineering then it does the dispatchers. I am in one of those situations where my dispatchers are not from the same agency and I never see the dispatchers at all.

[NYCDep]

10-1? Why is she telling you to call your command? I guess because she couldn't understand you?

[rookie2006]

Scary thing when you loose contact with dispatch. Our radios used to not work well and we had a lawn company that used to bleed through our channel. We have upgraded radios but they still loose signal at times.

[Albert Wesker]

A lot, but I know my partners are listening and one is on the way to me. It's difficult to take when I know I was clear and the dispatcher missed what I said. Back when I was first hired, they had us sit with a dispatcher for half a shift. It helps me understand why they missed what I said. Where I'm at the PD dispatcher could be answering 911 or on the radio with Fire or EMS. They do it all. There is no separate call taker.

I know our LECA (dispatcher), listens to 13 different radio channels from four different border patrol stations. On top of that there are many spots in our AOR where there is terrible reception, or no reception at all. Sometimes it is so bad I have better success calling on my cell phone.