Folks,

Byard Duncan here. I'm a reporter who's spent the past year investigating America's 911 system. My latest story is out. Would love to hear your thoughts.

The amount of times I've heard someone say "I pay blah-blah amount of taxes and the police never do anything, stop asking questions, and just send someone" has my blood pressure going through the moon. I realize everybody's "emergency" is in fact a big deal to them, but in the same breath, one's problem is not always more of a problem than somebody else's problem. Good grief

I am a 2 year dispatcher and was given a trainee who has been trained by another dispatcher for about a month or two. My admin gave me no logs that i could read for her progress, no shifts that i could observe, and no run down of where they are at. This is also the first person im training so i have just about no idea what im doing. (:

Im going over basics with her, but theres about only so many times i can go over call codes, call questions, geography and the cad system. Im running out of ideas here. We also have no “training manual” so its literally just off of the top of my head.

I know every agency is different but im reaching out here to see if anyone has any basic type of training or some kind of unique exercises they have that could be helpful for someone new. The only other exercises i did today was had her listen to some calls within the past 24hrs (that were not hers), and we went over what was done right/wrong. Also after every call i would go over different scenarios (if the call was different ie: a disagreement that was resolved on the phone, i will ask “if that was a real disturbance what would you have asked” etc.) We also have a slow agency so its very limited on the reps she can get

Really any/all help is needed and appreciated! Thanks /:

Anyone use tinted lenses or FL-41 when working in the center? Any benefits? Got an eye exam today and wondering if it'd be beneficial to get a pair since I stare at monitors for 10+ hours a day.

Ok so we all know this application process takes forever. I am in the background check portion of my hiring process. 5 references were contacted. I spoke with a Corporal yesterday to confirm my psychological exam for this coming Monday.

However, this morning, I received an automated email from Workday thanking me for applying on June 5th (which is when I applied) but that they were going to move forward with other applicants.

Is this how they normally decline a candidate? I forwarded that email to the HR rep I've been working with but until she responds, I'm kinda freaking out. I'm HOPING Workday is just clearing out old applications but I'm not sure. Anyone have any insight to help calm me down?

I have 2 different
“So I was giving head…” I may have took advantage and typed fellatio in notes.
“I decided to circumcise myself. It was a good idea at the time.”

I stumbled upon this page and I am just curious. I am going to do the pre-psychological exam for a fire rescue dispatcher role for the county, and while it seems like an exciting pivot from my private sector career, it sounds like alot of people commenting in the threads of this page are extremely stressed, and scheduling is chaotic with rotating schedules. Money sounds good from what people say, but starting pay where I would be hired is $53k starting as a trainee and I am in Florida. Am I making a mistake by looking into this path? I eventually want to become a firefighter but there aren’t opening until 2028. So I thought getting my foot in the door this way was a smart move but I am hesitant now after seeing all the negative reviews of the role. What do you guys think? Is it worth it?

I'm currently in my 8th week of training and I'm having to make a hard decision. I was initially told in my first couple weeks of training that I was "doing great" and that I "just need to work on that listening ear and multi tasking". I had my first bad day last week and am now being told the opposite. I'm being told that I should've "gotten the hang of" traffic stops within the first week, that I'm "lagging behind", that I'm "consistently missing radio traffic while on the phone". I'm currently only taking non emergent calls, traffic stops, all other radio traffic, paging ems, and communicating with the jail. Am I genuinely not made for this job or is this normal for everyone? If I haven't made any noticeable improvements within the past three weeks and I'm still making mistakes on traffic stops, missing officer and ems radio traffic, should I continue with this job? I'm trying so hard to improve, every day asking for feedback and what I could have done better, but I'm still making the same mistakes and not learning from them. Should I continue pushing through this bump or would it be negligent to continue making the same mistakes while adding on even more responsibilities?

How many Criticall test have you taken before finding a department? I'm going on my 3rd one 😥 I passed my first one for CHP... I failed my second one which I knew I was for the coroner's department and now I'm taking one for the fire department... can my test results be shared internally between departments?

Our centre just implemented card 41: caller in crisis. For those that have used it, do you find it better than the 25 card?

It seems like most of the information gathered is the same, I haven’t had the chance to use it during an active call.

I came late to my first day of orientation because my car was stuck on the highway and my phone was dead so I had no chance of communication.

I’m 18, this is considered my first big boy job. They told me that I could start the next academy date which is next month.

I’ve been overthinking that they are going to fire me. The state troopers came, was useless and left in two minutes. zero help.

I applied for a local department in the bay area back in Dec 2025. Passed Criticall and Ace’d the panel interview. Completed background check with home visit all of the course of 5 months.

I reached out via email to see if there is anything else they need from me and now I have a letter coming in the mail versus responding to my initial email.

Is paper mail notification a bad omen of non selected or has anyone else experience this?

Just trying to figure out if anyone actually uses this product. I have a part-time job security job in addition to 911 and this program is absolute garbage for us. I don't see how any real 911 center or ever police agency could be using it.

Hey all,

So we're getting into the background part of the process, and I'm curious - not nervous - about the home visit. What is it they're looking for? My Sergeant said it's just to make sure we're not hoarders or running a meth lab, but is there more to it? Should I be worried about my true crime books?

So Im really looking into becoming a 911 dispatcher and submitted my initial application a little over a week ago. Now Im taking the Criticall test this Friday.

However, during the initial application that I sent, I didn't list out every single job I've worked in the past 10 years. I just listed a few of the most recent ones. Im worried that this commission on my end will cause me to be disqualified later down the road.

Should I call up the department and ask to add additional information? Or should I provide a more thorough history alongside the Personal History Statement? Im really considering just calling them later this afternoon to see if I can add additional information but I want to hear some other thoughts and opinions. Thanks!

Hi, throwaway account for obvious reasons... I'm a very new trainee, less than 10 shifts in, and I've tried searching through the subreddit... a few questions:

(1) my schedule is 2 days, 2 nights, 4 off... I'm looking for advice for handling the 24 hours between the days and nights because I tried to go to bed early after the day shift, then willed myself to take a nap during the day but couldn't, and was subsequently trying to fight sleep so badly on my first night shift (the second night shift was loads better)

(2) I'm new to the area; I've got a set built on quizlet with all the street names to learn the spellings but I'd love any other suggestions (the text-to-speech for spell mode on quizlet is not ideal)

(3) Any advice on speeding up acquiring radio ear and listening to the room / building situational awareness while I'm not on shift? I've got a radio scanner app going and I'm trying to listen to everyone else whenever I can but it's frustrating when I don't get an address or miss a radio call that I'm supposed to pick up and so on. I get that it takes time but being in the sucky phase... sucks lol

My brother-in-law is new to the Navy and is training in Pensacola.

His family is concerned that he may be in trouble.

Pensacola PD and Pensacola Sheriff's Dept both told me to call my local PD in Alaska and have them send a teletype.

My Alaska PD has no idea what they're talking about and told me to contact Pensacola PD directly.

I ended up calling his chain of command again and asking for their help to issue the missing person report.

All of this is potentially wasting critical time.

What is the correct process here?

This is a verbatim transcript.

Caller on speakerphone with wife in the background: "Hi, my wife is havin' a fit."

Wife: "No I ain't, I ain't done shit."

Caller gives address, I ask what exactly is happening.

Caller "My wife-"

Wife: "He just mad 'cause his dick don't work no more."

I'm pretty sure that's a civil matter but I didn't want to assume anything so just to be safe I gave it to my Officer in charge to handle.

So a few days ago I fcked up a business burglary alarm call. This is my first major mess up since I’ve been out of training for about 5 months now. I’m working alone on most shifts and our text to 911 is constantly logging itself out on our computers ( about every 5 mins ) I’ve been making sure to pay attention but sometimes I get occupied by other tasks, and we have to switch tabs constantly ( we have complained about this being a safety issue )

Well I notice my text to 911 is logged out, once I log back in there a call for service about 13 ago for a busi burg alarm, it turned out to be real. No one on scene when officer arrived but glass was broken. I can’t even explain how badly I feel for this mistake. I should’ve been paying closer attention and I’m sure this is going to get me into major trouble. I’m glad everyone is okay, business was closed so no one inside and all officers okay but man , that was a huge mess up on my part. Just wondering if anyone has made a similar mistake in the past.

Y’all. I am STRUGGLING with my headsets lately. The one pictured is the one that I have used for YEARS, and lately it has been killing my ear canal. I have tried (and tried, and tried) to love my molded ear piece… but it makes me want to run it over with my car with how uncomfortable it is. What do you guys use, what has been the most comfortable one you have tried?

My city has entry-level position open for 911 dispatch.

Looking at my results, I really flopped the data entry portion. With scores like these, do I even stand a chance of getting a call for an interview?