I saw this link on Facebook and I'll admit, I'm a sappy person at times. *Sigh* no cure for it either I hear. http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/911song/ Okay there were a few points when I held my breath. It reminded me of when one of our booking officers (who wasn't carrying a gun) was coming off duty and went into the main lobby to help a motorist out front and a guy came in with a knife and demanded the officer shoot him. The booking officer couldn't get away really, guy was by the front door and the door he came out of locks from this side after 17:00. Since the officer never came out this way, only doing so today to help the motorist, he didn't know that.
The poor front desk commissionaire, who is safe behind the glass is frantically dialing our dispatch center for back up as this guy is pacing now. They showed us the video surveillance in our block training. You can see the booking officer, opening up his jacket to show that he doesn't have a gun. Now the suspect is pacing even more and starting to cut his own wrists and eventually has our officer cornered. I think while watching the video in block training, no one breathed. I know I didn't and I even knew how it ended. I could remember thinking, not him, not my charming, flirting, sarcastic, loving, caring, french booking officer. (not that I wanted it to be anyone cause I would have been able to come up with almost as many verbs to describe them)
There is a bit of a time delay cause even though we have officers in the building even ... we were told this, "there's a guy with a knife trying to kill the booking officer. OH MY GOD!" Where do you think we went? Booking. Our guys fly in and .... there's no one there. Well one booking officer who is a little confused at the sudden flood of blue and guns.
So then we call back and ouuu front door. Race of blue and guns to the front door. I can't imagine what is going through the officers head as they burst through a door with their guns while they know one of their own is in peril. But to have to do it twice in 10 mins. You see in the camera the guns first, they make it first, just the guns and they are wavering a bit, then you see the arms and the suspect pretty much raise the knife at them. He's so wired and suicidal, death by cop, not the way I'd want to go out.
One officer tries to taser him but it doesn't work. It's failed. Fuck. We're told that another officer was less then milliseconds from pulling his trigger when another officer burst in and used his taser which worked and took the guy down. My poor french guy is still in the corner and they get him out. They get the suspect a paramedic and that is the end of that. I started to breath about 5 minutes later.
So that's what that video, the link I shared, reminded me of. So needless to say I didn't breathe while watching it, but felt the same relief at the end. Kudos to all that go into the danger when everyone else is running the other way. My hat goes off!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
The many ways to skin a Kat (Vent warning)
What a cycle, whew it was a tiring one, one that pretty much beat you up repeatedly in every which way possible. God, it was a long 4 days. Talking to a suicidal woman who, while talking to me just realized the severity of what she had done (overdosed) and lost her mind. She was throwing up, hyperventilating, screaming, balling and there was just no doing with her. All of this, at the highest volume possible for about 15 minutes. I needed a five minute break after her, just to get my hearing back. Lets see after that what was it ... not the 'fuck you, I'm going to kill you bitch' no I tried not to laugh at him. Next day was a 13 month that was foaming at the mouth, eyes rolled back and not breathing, listening to the mother lose her mind, sobbing and just gone. Husband was the only one that could speak and that was through mumbled 'oh my god'. And tonight, hmmm oh yes, 4 complaints lodged against me from 1 coworker, 3 completely bullshit. But I got hauled into the office anyways, I sit down. I know what it's about. I'd like to believe I'm over the teenage mentality of 'they're out to get me' but this coworker is making me doubt my stance.
I sit down and he has a call of mine on his desk. I can read enough of it upside down to know which one it is. 20 minute call goes down like this. 911 rings and a 10 year old girl is hysterical. A friend of her mothers is pounding at the door trying to break it down. She has a knife and is carving the door with it, threatening to kill everyone inside. Lovely. Kid is traumatised but she can tell me her address and her phone number. God love you kid, you brave soul. I enter a call to get help before the worst happens, this little girl is not in a good place in town and I doubt they make good solid doors out there that could take the beating on the door that I could hear. I pound the call in, let's get some help moving. Mother takes the phone and is pissed at the daughter for calling the police, I wanted to slap that woman. I get the mother's name, DOB, the friends name and age and pound her on the call. All the info goes, description everything. Friend is an upstairs neighbor who, when realizing police are being called goes back to her apt where there are 2 kids, 2 and 5. Lovely. Police get there, we handle it. Done. Okay the complaint lodged against that call, well there was 2 actually. 1st one, when I pounded in the call, I didn't put the 10 year old girls name in the call screen. Whoopde fuck. There's a psycho with a knife pounding on her door trying to kill people, girl's name is not top priority. Mother's name goes in on second sup, suspects name goes on the same second sup. Daughters name sixth sup but that is an officer safety issue apparently. I'm sorry. I'm a big advocate for officer's safety, nothing means more to me then keeping our own boys and girls safe, so that really offended me.
2nd complaint, when the address went in there are 2 different endings for the street. It can either be Random Drive or Random Connector. It should have been Random drive but my finger clicked the wrong one. I can understand that issue if I had not caught the mistake myself within 1 min, fixed it and informed the damn dispatcher. I'm human not a machine, I'm doing a million things at once; cut me a little slack.
The other two complaints are just argh, what! Both were for not staying on the phone for two other calls. And each time it wasn't necessary, all info was obtained, nothing could be gained from staying on, callers were not in danger. All four complaints were lodged by the same dispatcher. Well now I know another complaint will be issued from tonight cause I pissed her off. I didn't make, what she considered, a stupid call go away. Suicidal woman, no description, no anything at the casino. Bang that's it. She wanted to close it. I wasn't done with it. I could work something. Give me a chance. The woman had said she was going to kill herself to a help line that has a 888 number. luck upon luck I was able to do a successful trace and I got a payphone that she called from. I then said i could call the casino, dispatcher said don't bother you won't get anywhere. I told her doing something was better then nothing, which really pissed her off. I called the casino and wouldn't you damn well know it, they knew where that payphone was located. Good I have a better location now, the call was placed only a little while ago. They have video cameras. I got a description now. Guess who has to do their job now miss dispatcher. I turned a call you wanted to close into something you have to work on. Hopefully we can find this girl and get her the help she needs, no thanks to the high school mind set that seems to have taken over.
So yeah I figure 1st day back I'll be hauled into the office, maybe I didn't dot an i or cross a t. I don't care, I'm not perfect. I'm human. I make mistakes but I own them. I've been told I'm not the only one she does this too. Our managers are realizing that she is essentially bullying several people. I just joined the club. Sweet. Let's crash the club house eh? Why is that we can do a critical job that truly is about more then us, but we can't deal with each other. Someone can handle a robbery at gun point but they don't know how to tell someone that they work with, hey about that call you put in, do you think that could do this? Or did you know this?'
I don't know. I'm tired. I'm ranting. I'm still mad about the officer safety remark. I don't spread the shit at work so sadly that leaves any readers to hear about. I should add that a coworker seein my mood slide down the crap chute, played this video for me. I hearts it. I came home and found a link, here it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfGBYtc6q_M&feature=related I'll see how my next cycles go, because as we all know, there are many ways to skin a Kat.
I sit down and he has a call of mine on his desk. I can read enough of it upside down to know which one it is. 20 minute call goes down like this. 911 rings and a 10 year old girl is hysterical. A friend of her mothers is pounding at the door trying to break it down. She has a knife and is carving the door with it, threatening to kill everyone inside. Lovely. Kid is traumatised but she can tell me her address and her phone number. God love you kid, you brave soul. I enter a call to get help before the worst happens, this little girl is not in a good place in town and I doubt they make good solid doors out there that could take the beating on the door that I could hear. I pound the call in, let's get some help moving. Mother takes the phone and is pissed at the daughter for calling the police, I wanted to slap that woman. I get the mother's name, DOB, the friends name and age and pound her on the call. All the info goes, description everything. Friend is an upstairs neighbor who, when realizing police are being called goes back to her apt where there are 2 kids, 2 and 5. Lovely. Police get there, we handle it. Done. Okay the complaint lodged against that call, well there was 2 actually. 1st one, when I pounded in the call, I didn't put the 10 year old girls name in the call screen. Whoopde fuck. There's a psycho with a knife pounding on her door trying to kill people, girl's name is not top priority. Mother's name goes in on second sup, suspects name goes on the same second sup. Daughters name sixth sup but that is an officer safety issue apparently. I'm sorry. I'm a big advocate for officer's safety, nothing means more to me then keeping our own boys and girls safe, so that really offended me.
2nd complaint, when the address went in there are 2 different endings for the street. It can either be Random Drive or Random Connector. It should have been Random drive but my finger clicked the wrong one. I can understand that issue if I had not caught the mistake myself within 1 min, fixed it and informed the damn dispatcher. I'm human not a machine, I'm doing a million things at once; cut me a little slack.
The other two complaints are just argh, what! Both were for not staying on the phone for two other calls. And each time it wasn't necessary, all info was obtained, nothing could be gained from staying on, callers were not in danger. All four complaints were lodged by the same dispatcher. Well now I know another complaint will be issued from tonight cause I pissed her off. I didn't make, what she considered, a stupid call go away. Suicidal woman, no description, no anything at the casino. Bang that's it. She wanted to close it. I wasn't done with it. I could work something. Give me a chance. The woman had said she was going to kill herself to a help line that has a 888 number. luck upon luck I was able to do a successful trace and I got a payphone that she called from. I then said i could call the casino, dispatcher said don't bother you won't get anywhere. I told her doing something was better then nothing, which really pissed her off. I called the casino and wouldn't you damn well know it, they knew where that payphone was located. Good I have a better location now, the call was placed only a little while ago. They have video cameras. I got a description now. Guess who has to do their job now miss dispatcher. I turned a call you wanted to close into something you have to work on. Hopefully we can find this girl and get her the help she needs, no thanks to the high school mind set that seems to have taken over.
So yeah I figure 1st day back I'll be hauled into the office, maybe I didn't dot an i or cross a t. I don't care, I'm not perfect. I'm human. I make mistakes but I own them. I've been told I'm not the only one she does this too. Our managers are realizing that she is essentially bullying several people. I just joined the club. Sweet. Let's crash the club house eh? Why is that we can do a critical job that truly is about more then us, but we can't deal with each other. Someone can handle a robbery at gun point but they don't know how to tell someone that they work with, hey about that call you put in, do you think that could do this? Or did you know this?'
I don't know. I'm tired. I'm ranting. I'm still mad about the officer safety remark. I don't spread the shit at work so sadly that leaves any readers to hear about. I should add that a coworker seein my mood slide down the crap chute, played this video for me. I hearts it. I came home and found a link, here it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfGBYtc6q_M&feature=related I'll see how my next cycles go, because as we all know, there are many ways to skin a Kat.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Airplanes and Seat belts
Last night was pretty slow for Crazy Town, nothing much happened at all. We had a shooting where a guy lost a good chunk of his leg to a shot gun but that was about it. It was so dull we came to the inevitable conclusion: Boredom equals trouble. Picture this, you have a room with 13 people doing nothing in tight spot. Let's see we had things flying over half walls, little poker game, coffee all round and of course a big ole gab session. One of my coworkers made a paper airplane, now she makes these things smooth, it is awesome. I waited until another coworker on the other side of a half-wall got a call and then sent the plane over. Direct hit! I may not be able to read lips normally but what she said was pretty clear. LOL!
Dispatcher Grumpy was in fire dispatch tonight so he was sort of hidden away. That didn't stop him from calling up this number that plays you the weather forecast and then conferencing it to my phone. I answer "Police and Fire communications, how can I ...." Then this lady is telling me about the weather. Of course me being me I start talking to her then quickly realize its a tape and that's on my secondary line. Next airplane went at his head!
To end the shift I got a ride home from one of the officers where I don't have a car and no one else was going home (I am technically part time which means I work 3 less hours). So I approach the car, and man I know I work with these guys and I know the officer inside is really nice but damn that car is still intimidating. I see it coming towards me and the only thing in my mind is "Run run run run." Officer JM lets me sit up front and he is typing up a report as he parks and I get in. I'm struggling with the seat belt now because it looks like it goes behind the seat itself. So I pull at it and doesn't it snap around and whip at my face. Turns out it had been buckled in but the strap pulled around back, done by the day shift guy. The whole right side of my face is on fire and I can't open my right eye. Poor Officer JM he is freaking because he forgot to warn me and now he's afraid I'm injured in his car. Means another report. I tell him I'm fine and try not to let him see the tears that are coming from that eye, I wasn't crying but the eye was still trying to flush out whatever had hit it. Of course he doesn't take my word for it and flicks the light on, which after a night spent mostly in the semi lite building, also makes me cringe, damn that white light. He looks it over and eventually my eye opens on its own but it's swollen a bit. The whole time he's saying sorry and I'm saying it's alright, I'm fine, stop fussing and then he continues to fuss. He then unbuckles the seat belt and I pull it around the other side, the sweet guy then takes it and buckles it in for me. The entire way home he is making me laugh and by the time I get out I feel a better and he laughs about what my neighbors are going to say. Screw the neighbors, that was fun, just next time I have to watch out for what's in the cop car and not the actual car.
Dispatcher Grumpy was in fire dispatch tonight so he was sort of hidden away. That didn't stop him from calling up this number that plays you the weather forecast and then conferencing it to my phone. I answer "Police and Fire communications, how can I ...." Then this lady is telling me about the weather. Of course me being me I start talking to her then quickly realize its a tape and that's on my secondary line. Next airplane went at his head!
To end the shift I got a ride home from one of the officers where I don't have a car and no one else was going home (I am technically part time which means I work 3 less hours). So I approach the car, and man I know I work with these guys and I know the officer inside is really nice but damn that car is still intimidating. I see it coming towards me and the only thing in my mind is "Run run run run." Officer JM lets me sit up front and he is typing up a report as he parks and I get in. I'm struggling with the seat belt now because it looks like it goes behind the seat itself. So I pull at it and doesn't it snap around and whip at my face. Turns out it had been buckled in but the strap pulled around back, done by the day shift guy. The whole right side of my face is on fire and I can't open my right eye. Poor Officer JM he is freaking because he forgot to warn me and now he's afraid I'm injured in his car. Means another report. I tell him I'm fine and try not to let him see the tears that are coming from that eye, I wasn't crying but the eye was still trying to flush out whatever had hit it. Of course he doesn't take my word for it and flicks the light on, which after a night spent mostly in the semi lite building, also makes me cringe, damn that white light. He looks it over and eventually my eye opens on its own but it's swollen a bit. The whole time he's saying sorry and I'm saying it's alright, I'm fine, stop fussing and then he continues to fuss. He then unbuckles the seat belt and I pull it around the other side, the sweet guy then takes it and buckles it in for me. The entire way home he is making me laugh and by the time I get out I feel a better and he laughs about what my neighbors are going to say. Screw the neighbors, that was fun, just next time I have to watch out for what's in the cop car and not the actual car.
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