A day in the life of a 911 dispatcher

Dec. 15--An 11-year-old girl saw a man outside her home and thought he was trying to break in, so she hid in the bathroom and called 911.

Jessi George, a dispatcher with the Aiken Department of Public Safety, took the call on Friday afternoon.

"Stay on the line, sweetie," George said to the girl. George told officers there was a possible burglary in progress but stayed on the line with the girl, asking her if she heard anything or if there was a window in the bathroom. The officers radioed back and told George they arrived at the home.

"They're gonna check the outside of the house and check for the man," George said to the girl on the phone. "Just hang tight."

It turned out the suspicious man was part of a lawn maintenance crew. George told the girl to go open the door for the officers, and they both hung up.

A few feet away, senior dispatcher Syneta Valentine took calls as well. During an average 10-hour shift in the dispatch room, a dispatcher may pick up the phone 200 times, including emergency and non-emergency calls, wrong numbers, hangups and "butt dials."

'They keep us busy in here'

A dispatcher's day starts with the 6 a.m. roll call with officers, according to Valentine, who's been a dispatcher with Aiken Public Safety for 14 years. There, the officers and dispatchers go over what's going on that day, updates on stolen cars, BOLO -- be on the lookout -- sheets and house checks.

"After that, we come in, sign on and start taking phone calls," Valentine said.

During the 2012-2013 fiscal year, Aiken Public Safety took nearly 42,000 911 calls. They took more than 140,000 calls on non-emergency lines.

Yes, dispatchers answer phones for 911 and non-emergency lines, but while they're doing that, they could also be communicating with emergency responders on the radio, tracking responders' locations, running a suspect's driver's license number or searching for warrants. If it's after 5 p.m., they're also dispatching for the city water department.

"They keep us busy in here," Valentine said, adding that no matter what is going on, the officers are the dispatchers' first responsibility.

A small card tacked on the bulletin board near the six monitors Valentine keeps an eye on reads: "You might know where you are. God might know where you are. But if DISPATCH doesn't know, you and God better be on good terms."

"I love each and every one of my officers," Valentine said. "Some of them, I don't know anything about, but I feel like when I sit in this chair, you're mine. You're my responsibility."

Life and death

Valentine had lost her job at an insurance company when a friend of hers, who was an Aiken Public Safety officer, told her the department was looking for dispatchers.

"From the first day I sat here, I fell in love with it," she said.

It takes about six months of training to become a dispatcher, she said. During training with the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division, they listened to 911 calls from the Columbine High School shootings.

"I was in tears in class. I think most people were," she said. "They want you to know that this is not a play thing. ... You think, what's 30 seconds? It doesn't sound like a lot, but if I stop breathing, I need an officer there ASAP."

With lives on the line, literally, the job leaves little room for error. People who call 911 are often "frantic."

"What just happened to them is the worst thing possible that could have happened to them at the moment," Valentine said. "We have to sort that out."

Sorting that out may be difficult with people in such a state of mind, and Valentine said they are taught how to interact with people under stressful circumstances. Keeping your voice calm can help lower a caller's anxiety, Valentine said. Obtaining the caller's location is the first and most important objective; then they can reassure the caller that help is on the way.

"A lot of times, that's all they want to hear, that someone is on the way to help," Valentine said.

The phone lines aren't always blowing up, and during those times, Valentine said dispatchers may read or do crossword puzzles.

"Normally, when they wake up, they realize something has happened, and when they get home from work, they realize something has happened," she said.

'You can't take it home'

Every now and then, a dispatcher gets "that call" after which they have to go outside and take a breather. One of the most difficult calls Valentine said she listened to came in August 2000, when 17-year-old Jessica Carpenter was found raped and murdered in her Crosland Park home. Her mother found her and called 911.

"I was able to listen on the other end as my trainer took that phone call," Valentine said. "She was frantic. To hear a mother scream for her baby, that sticks out for me."

Valentine took a call years later from another mother whose son fell in the pool when she fell asleep.

"That mom was looking for the child all over the house and couldn't find him," she said. "I was on the phone when she actually found him in the pool."

Dispatchers and officers who handle such calls must go through mandatory counseling afterward.

"It gives everyone involved the opportunity to talk about it, to know that the feelings you're having are normal ... and that you're able to put it in a place where it doesn't lead to depression, anger issues or any types of emotional issues related to that call," said Detective Jeremy Hembree. "When people call us, it's usually at their worst time in their life. When we get there, we have to be 100 percent professional for them. We can't go to a call thinking about one of the previous ones."

Valentine said dealing with different emotions becomes routine, but you never lose your compassion.

"You can't take it home. You've got to learn to just let it go," she said. "You don't stand behind there and boohoo. Every now and then you get that call, the person on the other end is just sobbing, and your heart goes out to them."

'Superheroes ... without the capes'

When you call 911, before the first patrol car, fire truck or ambulance gets rolling, you have to go through the dispatch center. The dispatchers are the very first emergency responders on the scene.

"They're our lifeline. Whatever we need, they're our point of contact to give it to us," Hembree said, pointing to the cluster of computer monitors. "They're our first people that have interaction with the public when people call for help. They have a sense of what's going on out there when we're on the way."

Hembree called dispatchers "superheroes without the capes."

Even while wearing so many different hats, Valentine said there's rarely a day she doesn't want to be at work.

"I've had jobs before where I'm like, 'I don't want to go to work today,'" she said. "I love my job and I love what I do. If everybody goes home safe, I'm good."

Teddy Kulmala covers the crime and courts beat for the Aiken Standard and has been with the newspaper since August 2012. He is a native of Williston and majored in communication studies at Clemson University.

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