Article taken from Public Safety Communications Magazine, January 2008
Written by Bob Smith, APCO International's director of Comm Center & 911 Services
Once new employees have made it through the application and hiring process, completed their formal classroom training sessions, finalized their on-the-job training and begun their probationary period, what's next? The foundation of knowledge they gained in your new-hire training program needs to be retained and supplemented as public safety communications evolves and as the needs and operations of your center change. This is accomplished through continuing dispatch education (CDE), and it is just as important for our veterans as it is for new hires.
CDE is a broad and all-encompassing phrase. It covers just about any form of public safety communications related training and education that your employees may obtain. Most agencies that require CDE will accept training sessions on any component of public safety communications, including training on CAD systems, caller interrogation techniques, call prioritization, etc.
Beyond that, most comm centers today require some form of emergency medical dispatch (EMD) or basic telecommunicator training that mandates annual recertification. Recertification requirements usually include the accumulation of CDE points through classroom sessions and other formal training activities. Some EMD programs accept training and education that is related to medical care outside of the comm center, including CPR, patient triage, mass casualty incident management, etc.
Many agencies also have staff instructors who must maintain their instructor certifications, which often also require CDE points.
CDE is an integral component of any agency's operations. Without it, the agency can quickly become mired in inadequate operations and stagnated policies and procedures. CDE can help you maintain proper service levels, incorporate new policies and procedures, train employees on new technology and address deficiencies found by the agency's quality assurance program.
CDE does not need to be delivered via formal lecture-style classroom sessions. If your agency has regular staff meetings, extend the meetings by 15 or 30 minutes to add a simple training session on one aspect of your agency's operations, such as locating specific landmarks in your jurisdiction. Consider implementing a "roll-call" training session where a quick run-through on a single topic can serve as a 15- or 30-minute refresher. Your agency can also schedule monthly one-hour sessions where employees come together to talk about a specific topic in a discussion led by a senior staff member or certified instructor.
When looking for ideas to focus on, start with the basics. Pull topics out of your agency's telecommunicator training program, such as handling fire alarms, and create a mini refresher course. You can also base sessions on your agency's policies and procedures, and on issues revealed by your agency's quality control program. Example: If your quality control program shows that telecommunicators are routinely scoring low in the area of obtaining a physical address, then conduct a session on the importance of obtaining the physical address. Consider one-hour sessions on entering data into the CAD system, locating fire hydrants, local geography, contacting keyholders, etc.
If you are fortunate enough to have funding in the form of a training budget, you can explore commercially available CDE programs that provide pre-made training sessions, such as the APCO Institute's Training in a Box series or EMD Refresher program. Programs of this type include multiple sessions that can be customized with agency-specific information. Topics can range from SWAT and raid operations to problem-solving skills for supervisors and patient assessment skills for EMDs. Such programs are relatively inexpensive and easy to use.
Whatever format is used, the hours spent in training should be tracked and documented. A simple sign-in sheet can be the basis for tracking CDE obtained. However the hours are tracked, the documentation should record the topic covered, the speaker or presenter, the date and time of the session, attendee names and how many hours were spent covering the topic. These documents can be archived by a training coordinator or other administrative employee for later submission as proof of participation in a CDE session.
Bottom line: Whether you use a commercially available CDE program or create one in-house, every agency should have a program in place. CDE programs allow your agency to maintain proper levels of operational proficiency and address deficiencies detected by your agency's quality assurance program. They also provide a quick, simple way to train employees on modifications to existing policies and procedures and show them how to incorporate training on new policies and procedures or technology into their jobs.
9-1-1
9-1-1; What Is Your Emergency?
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Do You Have a Life Outside Law Enforcement....Really?
Article taken from PoliceOne.com News
Written by Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith, she has nearly 30 years of law enforcement experience, and she currently serves as a patrol supervisor in a Chicago suberb.
You've all heard it said that "Police work isn't a job, it's a lifestyle." Even in the Street Survival Seminar we talk about spending a considerable amount of your off-duty time in Condition Yellow, and we strongly advocate carrying an off-duty weapon. If you're a cop, let's face it, you tend to view yourself as a cop 24/7/365, and frankly, a lot of us do so with pride. However, even Bruce Wayne took off the Batman cape once in awhile and had Alfred bring him a drink and a nice dinner. But when you hang up the uniform and gun belt for the day, do you find yourself curling up with the new issues of Law Officer and Police magazines, surfing the Internet to check all the cop-related Web sites and blogs, playing the newest version of Police Quest on your X-Box or watching a "COPS" marathon or a rerun of "The Shield" on TV? In other words, even when you're off duty, are you surrounding yourself with a little too much police-related information and entertainment? How are you spending what little free time you have?
There's no question about it, police work doesn't exactly lend itself to an overabundance of spare time. Between call outs, overtime details, court days, shift holdovers, extra-duty jobs and the myriad other duty-related things that we end up having to do before and after work, it's no wonder so many of us fall victim to what Dr. Kevin Gilmartin calls the "I Usta Syndrome." The "I usta" response is given by so many of us when we're asked about our hobbies and activities outside of the job. "I usta" go fishing, "I usta" coach my kid's soccer team, "I usta" go to church,
"I usta" be a runner, "I usta" be into photography...the list goes on and on. With our odd days off, weird shift times and the long-term effects of hypervigilance, it's no wonder that we start to lose interest in the hobbies and activities that once brought us so much joy and relaxation. In law enforcement, we are totally immersed in a culture that, if we're not careful, becomes all consuming, and we can find ourselves struggling to maintain even a modicum of balance. In fact, sometimes the harder we try to be the best, most informed, most enthusiastic cop we can be, the more we risk losing sight of the nonpolice support systems that help us maintain that great attitude on the job. In the extreme, some cops lose interest not just in pleasurable activities, but in their friends, their families and eventually their own self-worth. If that happens, it's time to seek professional help, now.
But let's just say you're like the majority of us who have "allowed" the job to dominate or eliminate your free time. Here are a few suggestions to get back on track:
Take Back Control
Sure, the agency controls when you work; the court system controls when you have to appear; crim, mayhem and the 911 center control what calls you respond to, but despite your perception to the opposite, work does not control your life 24 hours a day. Learn to practice what Gilmartin calls "aggressive personal time management." Get yourself a calendar, a Palm Pilot, a computer program, something where you can view your schedule long term. I prefer to have two, a personal scheduler and one that the whole family can view at home. Plug in all your work days, court days, training days and so on, and then look at the days and hours you're not at work, and take a second to feel good about that. Next, schedule all the family obligations, school events, church, doctor appointments and things that you can't or don't want to miss. Sometimes, just writing it down makes it more "real," and it makes you feel more in control. See whether you can find some free time in there and then decide how you'd like to spend it.
Start Small and Prioritize
Think about the things you feel like you're missing out on. Do you long for the days when you and the whole family went to a movie and then out for ice cream every Friday night, but now you're on second shift and the kids seem even busier than you are? Pick one day during the upcoming month that you all can get together, then write on the calendar "Family Movie Night." Give everyone plenty of notice, let them know that the date is sacred, that it's on the calendar, and it's a priority. Spend time talking about it, anticipating it; look at what movies are coming out and see if you can all agree on one. Even if you don't see much of your family because of shift work and busy schedules get in the habit of e-mailing your kids and your spouse or leaving handwritten notes about the upcoming event -- in other words, make it a big deal, and then make sure that it happens, no matter how tired or distracted you are, no matter how crazy things have been at work, no matter how much time you've spent in court this week. If the members of your family see that you've made a night out with them a priority, they'll do the same (although our teenagers may not admit it!). If going out is not an option, make the same effort to have family movie night at home, with everyone curled up on the couch in front of a scary movie. If you're on nights, how about scheduling "Cartoon Saturday Morning" for a few hours before it's time for you to hit the hay? Be creative! The family will just be happy to have your time and attention. If family time is what you feel you're missing out on, start out small and make it happen.
Be Consistent
What if you've decided to make getting back in shape a priority? Again, start small, and then make sure you be consistent. Write your anticipated workout dates on that calendar, and then, just for fun, write down what you accomplish each time you work out. Treat each scheduled workout like a high-priority doctor's appointment or court case, and if something happens and you're going to be late for your "appointment," go as soon as you can. Twenty minutes on the treadmill (instead of the anticipated 45 minutes) is better than no minutes on the treadmill, and as I've learned from my husband, you don't need to spend an hour or two every day in the gym to stay in great shape. Walking the dog, playing basketball with your kids or chasing your spouse around the bedroom can count as "working out" too sometimes. The point is basically to get your heart rate up and your mind off the job.
Be Flexible and Relax
I was really into scrapbooking at one time. I had all the cool tools, all the pretty paper, I subscribed to all the magazines and online newsletters, and I secretly felt superior knowing that all my family photos were neatly chronicled when most of my friends were throwing all their photos into shoeboxes and junk drawers. I was considered quite the "expert" by my family and friends, who would consult me about their own scrapbooks, and ask whether I'd help them organize their own pictures. However, once I became the big "expert," I quit enjoying it so much. In fact, it just became one more "chore" that I had to get done, and I started driving myself (and my poor family) crazy trying to make time to get those damn photos into those stupid scrapbooks! I finally had to step away from my hobby for awhile. After a few months, I re-evaluated and figured out a way to make it fun again by turning it back into something relaxing and personal rather than a competition or an "expertise." So if you used to be really into fishing, but it just seems like too much hassle to get out all those poles, lures, tackle boxes and all that high tech gear you've been amassing for years, try grabbing a bamboo pole and some worms, and spending an hour in a lawn chair tossing a hook into your subdivision's little pond. We have a small "lake" behind our police department, and a few times a month one of my fellow sergeants takes a fishing pole and some worms out of the back of his Jeep and spends an hour after work fishing for whatever it is that is swimming around in that murky retention pond. His gear is low tech, it's catch-and-release, and he's not trying to win any contests, but he sure seems relaxed when he's done fishing.
Let's face it, police work can be an all-consuming profession, whether you're a patrol officer, detective, correctional officer or dispatcher. Our hours are long and inconsistent, our job can be stressful and heartbreaking, and we tend to have so much going on that our "inner citizen" tends to get lost in the shuffle. Use those "take charge" skills you have to take control of your own time and your own life and learn to really anticipate and enjoy your time away from the job. Trust me, it will make your time on the job that much more productive.
Written by Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith, she has nearly 30 years of law enforcement experience, and she currently serves as a patrol supervisor in a Chicago suberb.
You've all heard it said that "Police work isn't a job, it's a lifestyle." Even in the Street Survival Seminar we talk about spending a considerable amount of your off-duty time in Condition Yellow, and we strongly advocate carrying an off-duty weapon. If you're a cop, let's face it, you tend to view yourself as a cop 24/7/365, and frankly, a lot of us do so with pride. However, even Bruce Wayne took off the Batman cape once in awhile and had Alfred bring him a drink and a nice dinner. But when you hang up the uniform and gun belt for the day, do you find yourself curling up with the new issues of Law Officer and Police magazines, surfing the Internet to check all the cop-related Web sites and blogs, playing the newest version of Police Quest on your X-Box or watching a "COPS" marathon or a rerun of "The Shield" on TV? In other words, even when you're off duty, are you surrounding yourself with a little too much police-related information and entertainment? How are you spending what little free time you have?
There's no question about it, police work doesn't exactly lend itself to an overabundance of spare time. Between call outs, overtime details, court days, shift holdovers, extra-duty jobs and the myriad other duty-related things that we end up having to do before and after work, it's no wonder so many of us fall victim to what Dr. Kevin Gilmartin calls the "I Usta Syndrome." The "I usta" response is given by so many of us when we're asked about our hobbies and activities outside of the job. "I usta" go fishing, "I usta" coach my kid's soccer team, "I usta" go to church,
"I usta" be a runner, "I usta" be into photography...the list goes on and on. With our odd days off, weird shift times and the long-term effects of hypervigilance, it's no wonder that we start to lose interest in the hobbies and activities that once brought us so much joy and relaxation. In law enforcement, we are totally immersed in a culture that, if we're not careful, becomes all consuming, and we can find ourselves struggling to maintain even a modicum of balance. In fact, sometimes the harder we try to be the best, most informed, most enthusiastic cop we can be, the more we risk losing sight of the nonpolice support systems that help us maintain that great attitude on the job. In the extreme, some cops lose interest not just in pleasurable activities, but in their friends, their families and eventually their own self-worth. If that happens, it's time to seek professional help, now.
But let's just say you're like the majority of us who have "allowed" the job to dominate or eliminate your free time. Here are a few suggestions to get back on track:
Take Back Control
Sure, the agency controls when you work; the court system controls when you have to appear; crim, mayhem and the 911 center control what calls you respond to, but despite your perception to the opposite, work does not control your life 24 hours a day. Learn to practice what Gilmartin calls "aggressive personal time management." Get yourself a calendar, a Palm Pilot, a computer program, something where you can view your schedule long term. I prefer to have two, a personal scheduler and one that the whole family can view at home. Plug in all your work days, court days, training days and so on, and then look at the days and hours you're not at work, and take a second to feel good about that. Next, schedule all the family obligations, school events, church, doctor appointments and things that you can't or don't want to miss. Sometimes, just writing it down makes it more "real," and it makes you feel more in control. See whether you can find some free time in there and then decide how you'd like to spend it.
Start Small and Prioritize
Think about the things you feel like you're missing out on. Do you long for the days when you and the whole family went to a movie and then out for ice cream every Friday night, but now you're on second shift and the kids seem even busier than you are? Pick one day during the upcoming month that you all can get together, then write on the calendar "Family Movie Night." Give everyone plenty of notice, let them know that the date is sacred, that it's on the calendar, and it's a priority. Spend time talking about it, anticipating it; look at what movies are coming out and see if you can all agree on one. Even if you don't see much of your family because of shift work and busy schedules get in the habit of e-mailing your kids and your spouse or leaving handwritten notes about the upcoming event -- in other words, make it a big deal, and then make sure that it happens, no matter how tired or distracted you are, no matter how crazy things have been at work, no matter how much time you've spent in court this week. If the members of your family see that you've made a night out with them a priority, they'll do the same (although our teenagers may not admit it!). If going out is not an option, make the same effort to have family movie night at home, with everyone curled up on the couch in front of a scary movie. If you're on nights, how about scheduling "Cartoon Saturday Morning" for a few hours before it's time for you to hit the hay? Be creative! The family will just be happy to have your time and attention. If family time is what you feel you're missing out on, start out small and make it happen.
Be Consistent
What if you've decided to make getting back in shape a priority? Again, start small, and then make sure you be consistent. Write your anticipated workout dates on that calendar, and then, just for fun, write down what you accomplish each time you work out. Treat each scheduled workout like a high-priority doctor's appointment or court case, and if something happens and you're going to be late for your "appointment," go as soon as you can. Twenty minutes on the treadmill (instead of the anticipated 45 minutes) is better than no minutes on the treadmill, and as I've learned from my husband, you don't need to spend an hour or two every day in the gym to stay in great shape. Walking the dog, playing basketball with your kids or chasing your spouse around the bedroom can count as "working out" too sometimes. The point is basically to get your heart rate up and your mind off the job.
Be Flexible and Relax
I was really into scrapbooking at one time. I had all the cool tools, all the pretty paper, I subscribed to all the magazines and online newsletters, and I secretly felt superior knowing that all my family photos were neatly chronicled when most of my friends were throwing all their photos into shoeboxes and junk drawers. I was considered quite the "expert" by my family and friends, who would consult me about their own scrapbooks, and ask whether I'd help them organize their own pictures. However, once I became the big "expert," I quit enjoying it so much. In fact, it just became one more "chore" that I had to get done, and I started driving myself (and my poor family) crazy trying to make time to get those damn photos into those stupid scrapbooks! I finally had to step away from my hobby for awhile. After a few months, I re-evaluated and figured out a way to make it fun again by turning it back into something relaxing and personal rather than a competition or an "expertise." So if you used to be really into fishing, but it just seems like too much hassle to get out all those poles, lures, tackle boxes and all that high tech gear you've been amassing for years, try grabbing a bamboo pole and some worms, and spending an hour in a lawn chair tossing a hook into your subdivision's little pond. We have a small "lake" behind our police department, and a few times a month one of my fellow sergeants takes a fishing pole and some worms out of the back of his Jeep and spends an hour after work fishing for whatever it is that is swimming around in that murky retention pond. His gear is low tech, it's catch-and-release, and he's not trying to win any contests, but he sure seems relaxed when he's done fishing.
Let's face it, police work can be an all-consuming profession, whether you're a patrol officer, detective, correctional officer or dispatcher. Our hours are long and inconsistent, our job can be stressful and heartbreaking, and we tend to have so much going on that our "inner citizen" tends to get lost in the shuffle. Use those "take charge" skills you have to take control of your own time and your own life and learn to really anticipate and enjoy your time away from the job. Trust me, it will make your time on the job that much more productive.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Beat Stress: Enhancing Telecommunicator Performance
Article taken from 911 Magazine, July 2008
Written by Kurt Levins, Sr. retired law enforcement officer who specializes in Intelligence and Critical Incident Operations.
Thursday April 20, 1995, was the worst day of my 27-year professional life. I had three friends shot; two died at the scene and the third survived being shot seven times by an AK-47. The shooter barricaded himself and fired on close to 100 officers who responded to the scene. The actual exchange of gunfire went on for 20 minutes and over 1,000 rounds were fired. The incident occurred in the Borough of Hadden Heights (NJ).
A barricaded stand-off ensued until the gunman surrendered 14-hours later after being coaxed out by negotiators. I was one of the negotiators. There was a mystery to the whole incident for me. The shooter was never hit, despite hundreds of police rounds being poured into the house. But for some reason at one point the gunman stopped shooting. No more rounds were fired after that. What made him stop shooting? He had thousands of rounds and multiple weapons available to him. What could it have been?
It wasn't until the trial two years later that I discovered what had occurred. As I was not a direct witness and not called to testify I was able to sit through the entire trial. It was during the testimony of Haddon Heights Police Dispatcher Melissa Bastien that the riddle was solved.
The shooting occurred just before the start of her shift. In the midst of the confusion, Melissa had the calmness and sense of mind to place a call to the shooter's house. He answered, "Hello?" She asked what was going on out there. The shooter said that the police were shooting at him. She told him to stop shooting and he said "Okay" and never fired another shot. I learned a valuable lesson: never underestimate the ability of a professional dispatcher.
Had Melissa panicked, do you think she would have ever come up with that solution? Under that type of stress it would be easy to panic. I'll never know what kept her so calm. But what I can tell you is that based upon my experience in critical incidents and 33 years of martial arts training, I've developed a simple easy to learn way to stay calm in the middle of a storm.
Cause and Effect
Before we start with the actual technique I would like to educate you a little on the effects of stress. Then I'll present a technique for staying calm which is learned through a series of simple exercises. Hopefully, through the use of these exercises throughout your career, you will be able to lessen the effects that stress has on your life.
A critical incident can be defined as any event involving the use of violence and the chance of injury or death to anyone involved. Major traffic accidents, house fires, and mass casualties are critical incidents as is almost every shooting. But further, any incident that tears deeply to the core of our person can be a critical incident.
When a person is thrust into a critical incident the body quickly reacts to protect itself. It dumps a large amount of chemicals into the bloodstream including but not limited to adrenaline and endorphins. Both are very powerful and will affect your behavior. The body also subconsciously tenses the neck and should muscles to protect the head. This is where some of the first symptoms of stress may appear. Ever get a stiff neck during a stressful incident? Now you know why. The body also increases urine and fecal output. It gets rid of everything it doesn't need to conserve energy.
The chemical dump causes your heart rate to increase and also results in increased respiration. As our heart rate increases and the stress continues or increases, we can find our fine motor skills degrading. We can also find our vision tunneling. Should the heart rate rise too high we will find our gross motor skills breaking down and your cognitive processes becoming impaired.
A fine motor skill would be typing your reports or entering a call into your dispatch CAD system. A gross motor skill would be something like answering the telephone. Cognitive processes are your ability to think. One place where you may first recognize this effect is with your memory. Short or long term may be affected. Can't find a pen in the middle of a critical incident? Blame short-term memory loss.
Another effect of stress you may recognize is that your chest begins to heave in order to get more oxygen into your system to support the increased heart rate. Not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, but it continues to feed the stress cycle. Like throwing fuel on top of a fire that you are trying to contain.
The full list of the psycho-physical effects of stress is lengthy and far beyond this article. My suggestion is that if you want to learn more on these effects seek out formal training in the area of critical incident stress. Check with your local training academy to see if any such courses are available (the 911 Magazine website lists a number of critical incident stress resources on the Web links page).
Controlling the Stress Reaction
So we now recognize that we will undergo changes when put into a critical incident situation. Our next step is to control these effects so that we can perform as effectively as possible. Sometimes just recognizing and labeling these reactions will help lessen their impact on our behavior.
Once you learn to recognize the effects of stress, you'll need to learn how to recognize them as they occur under stress. Fortunately, you don't have to run out and become involved in an actual critical situation to learn this skill.
The body doesn't distinguish between stress from a real situation and that from a controlled situation. The easiest controlled situation in which to practice is while doing physical exercise. If you've ever taken part in strenuous athletic activity and tried to think or handle a cognitive problem before you've sufficiently recovered, you can attest to just how hard this is to perform.
The system I am about to teach you comes from Chinese martial arts that combine meditation and fighting. They are the exercises that were taught so a fighter could remain calm during battle and combat.
First go to your retreat. You know the place where you can relax: The comfy chair in the den, the Queen Anne in your bedroom, on your bed, wherever you can relax. Listen to calming music. There is no specific music. Instrumental is best though because lyrics can interfere with your thoughts. I am also thinking that Bach may be more soothing than, say, Metallica.
Assume a comfortable position, feet flat on the floor head straight but not forced. Now picture yourself doing something that relaxes you. Fishing, cooking, sewing, whatever calms you. This is your exercise: don't adopt someone else's idea of what is relaxing only you know what is right for you.
Now pay attention to your breathing. Take it deep into your belly more than high into your chest. This is diaphragmatic breathing and allows the maximum amount of oxygen to be taken into your lungs. Watch a baby breathe and you will observe that they move their bellies in and out and not their chests. You are aiming to do this kind of breathing.
Now when you exhale just as you breathe out the last hit, roll your shoulders forward a little and compress your chest like you're trying to squeeze out the last bit of breath, because that is exactly what you are doing. You are also loosening your shoulders up.
Once you are comfortable with this, try holding your breath after the inhale and exhalation. For how long? Breathe in for three seconds hold exhale for three seconds and hold and repeat. How long should the hold be? One second at first then gradually up to five seconds, no more unless you are training directly under an instructor.
Now I want you to select a sound that you will make on the exhalation. A very common sound that I have found to be easy to do and that is very effective is - um. Some others are ha, aah, so and caa. Those sounds all are common sounds in Eastern meditations. Here is a common one syllable word that may work really well for you: "calm." The sound itself is not important. What is important is that you associate that sound with relaxing. So that you can so program yourself to relax as soon as you hear the sound.
You may by now have a question about this whole technique: in the middle of all of the confusion of a critical incident how am I going to do the technique? Here is a principle that runs consistent through all survival training: whether police, fire, or EMS and other high risk activities. The wrong place to do something for the first time is under stress.
You must learn and integrate these techniques prior to using them. This is and of itself, will allow you to apply these techniques when all around you is a hurricane of voices, radio calls, computer chatter, phones ringing, and so on. Two physical aspects of the techniques are easily visible. These physical components are like the key to a car. Once you turn the key, the rest kicks in automatically. Recognize the effects of stress as it begins to kick into gear, and turn on this calming technique to control the stress before it takes the wheel.
Breathing with your stomach and rolling your shoulders forward with each breath will serve as reminders to control your breath through the incident. Remember, once you can relax using these techniques you no longer have to recite the sound aloud. You can just say it to yourself while working away.
If you have a little kit you carry to work every day with notes, phonebooks, whatever, write the word "Calm" on an index card. At the start of the shift, place it somewhere around your display console. Then every time you see the "Calm" card during an incident, it will remind your subconscious to kick in the relaxation technique.
I once taught this system to a police sergeant at 2:00 PM. At 9:00 PM that very same day he was involved in delivering a baby. The next day in class he told me that he started the controlled breathing on the way to the call and stayed calm throughout the entire situation. His exact statement was, "I could not believe how easy and effective it was."
Have you ever met a person who just stays calm no matter what happens? Just before Halloween, my sergeant and I were standing next to the dispatch area. We were a small department and only worked two officers at a time. Our dispatcher, Chuck Roberts, answered a call and took down some notes. He then turned to us as calmly as could be and said, "At such and such address, in the rear apartment...a lady came home and found her boyfriend hanging..." I dropped everything I was doing and raced to the scene, past the family outside and into the apartment. I found a male subject hanging with a ligature around his neck. I found no vital signs -- in fact I found signs of obvious death. I was then securing the entire scene and realized I was still by myself, no sergeant. I got on the radio and called him and he got there about a minute later.
When he got there I asked what had taken him so long. I'll never forget his answer. "Chuck was so calm I thought he was playing a Halloween practical joke on us. I never thought it was a real call until I heard you calling for the prosecutor's office and coroner to respond."
Few people can stay as calm as that dispatcher without training. My hope is that you are blessed and never have to be involved in a truly traumatic critical incident. But if you do, having this technique in your professional arsenal of tools will help both during and after the incident.
Written by Kurt Levins, Sr. retired law enforcement officer who specializes in Intelligence and Critical Incident Operations.
Thursday April 20, 1995, was the worst day of my 27-year professional life. I had three friends shot; two died at the scene and the third survived being shot seven times by an AK-47. The shooter barricaded himself and fired on close to 100 officers who responded to the scene. The actual exchange of gunfire went on for 20 minutes and over 1,000 rounds were fired. The incident occurred in the Borough of Hadden Heights (NJ).
A barricaded stand-off ensued until the gunman surrendered 14-hours later after being coaxed out by negotiators. I was one of the negotiators. There was a mystery to the whole incident for me. The shooter was never hit, despite hundreds of police rounds being poured into the house. But for some reason at one point the gunman stopped shooting. No more rounds were fired after that. What made him stop shooting? He had thousands of rounds and multiple weapons available to him. What could it have been?
It wasn't until the trial two years later that I discovered what had occurred. As I was not a direct witness and not called to testify I was able to sit through the entire trial. It was during the testimony of Haddon Heights Police Dispatcher Melissa Bastien that the riddle was solved.
The shooting occurred just before the start of her shift. In the midst of the confusion, Melissa had the calmness and sense of mind to place a call to the shooter's house. He answered, "Hello?" She asked what was going on out there. The shooter said that the police were shooting at him. She told him to stop shooting and he said "Okay" and never fired another shot. I learned a valuable lesson: never underestimate the ability of a professional dispatcher.
Had Melissa panicked, do you think she would have ever come up with that solution? Under that type of stress it would be easy to panic. I'll never know what kept her so calm. But what I can tell you is that based upon my experience in critical incidents and 33 years of martial arts training, I've developed a simple easy to learn way to stay calm in the middle of a storm.
Cause and Effect
Before we start with the actual technique I would like to educate you a little on the effects of stress. Then I'll present a technique for staying calm which is learned through a series of simple exercises. Hopefully, through the use of these exercises throughout your career, you will be able to lessen the effects that stress has on your life.
A critical incident can be defined as any event involving the use of violence and the chance of injury or death to anyone involved. Major traffic accidents, house fires, and mass casualties are critical incidents as is almost every shooting. But further, any incident that tears deeply to the core of our person can be a critical incident.
When a person is thrust into a critical incident the body quickly reacts to protect itself. It dumps a large amount of chemicals into the bloodstream including but not limited to adrenaline and endorphins. Both are very powerful and will affect your behavior. The body also subconsciously tenses the neck and should muscles to protect the head. This is where some of the first symptoms of stress may appear. Ever get a stiff neck during a stressful incident? Now you know why. The body also increases urine and fecal output. It gets rid of everything it doesn't need to conserve energy.
The chemical dump causes your heart rate to increase and also results in increased respiration. As our heart rate increases and the stress continues or increases, we can find our fine motor skills degrading. We can also find our vision tunneling. Should the heart rate rise too high we will find our gross motor skills breaking down and your cognitive processes becoming impaired.
A fine motor skill would be typing your reports or entering a call into your dispatch CAD system. A gross motor skill would be something like answering the telephone. Cognitive processes are your ability to think. One place where you may first recognize this effect is with your memory. Short or long term may be affected. Can't find a pen in the middle of a critical incident? Blame short-term memory loss.
Another effect of stress you may recognize is that your chest begins to heave in order to get more oxygen into your system to support the increased heart rate. Not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, but it continues to feed the stress cycle. Like throwing fuel on top of a fire that you are trying to contain.
The full list of the psycho-physical effects of stress is lengthy and far beyond this article. My suggestion is that if you want to learn more on these effects seek out formal training in the area of critical incident stress. Check with your local training academy to see if any such courses are available (the 911 Magazine website lists a number of critical incident stress resources on the Web links page).
Controlling the Stress Reaction
So we now recognize that we will undergo changes when put into a critical incident situation. Our next step is to control these effects so that we can perform as effectively as possible. Sometimes just recognizing and labeling these reactions will help lessen their impact on our behavior.
Once you learn to recognize the effects of stress, you'll need to learn how to recognize them as they occur under stress. Fortunately, you don't have to run out and become involved in an actual critical situation to learn this skill.
The body doesn't distinguish between stress from a real situation and that from a controlled situation. The easiest controlled situation in which to practice is while doing physical exercise. If you've ever taken part in strenuous athletic activity and tried to think or handle a cognitive problem before you've sufficiently recovered, you can attest to just how hard this is to perform.
The system I am about to teach you comes from Chinese martial arts that combine meditation and fighting. They are the exercises that were taught so a fighter could remain calm during battle and combat.
First go to your retreat. You know the place where you can relax: The comfy chair in the den, the Queen Anne in your bedroom, on your bed, wherever you can relax. Listen to calming music. There is no specific music. Instrumental is best though because lyrics can interfere with your thoughts. I am also thinking that Bach may be more soothing than, say, Metallica.
Assume a comfortable position, feet flat on the floor head straight but not forced. Now picture yourself doing something that relaxes you. Fishing, cooking, sewing, whatever calms you. This is your exercise: don't adopt someone else's idea of what is relaxing only you know what is right for you.
Now pay attention to your breathing. Take it deep into your belly more than high into your chest. This is diaphragmatic breathing and allows the maximum amount of oxygen to be taken into your lungs. Watch a baby breathe and you will observe that they move their bellies in and out and not their chests. You are aiming to do this kind of breathing.
Now when you exhale just as you breathe out the last hit, roll your shoulders forward a little and compress your chest like you're trying to squeeze out the last bit of breath, because that is exactly what you are doing. You are also loosening your shoulders up.
Once you are comfortable with this, try holding your breath after the inhale and exhalation. For how long? Breathe in for three seconds hold exhale for three seconds and hold and repeat. How long should the hold be? One second at first then gradually up to five seconds, no more unless you are training directly under an instructor.
Now I want you to select a sound that you will make on the exhalation. A very common sound that I have found to be easy to do and that is very effective is - um. Some others are ha, aah, so and caa. Those sounds all are common sounds in Eastern meditations. Here is a common one syllable word that may work really well for you: "calm." The sound itself is not important. What is important is that you associate that sound with relaxing. So that you can so program yourself to relax as soon as you hear the sound.
You may by now have a question about this whole technique: in the middle of all of the confusion of a critical incident how am I going to do the technique? Here is a principle that runs consistent through all survival training: whether police, fire, or EMS and other high risk activities. The wrong place to do something for the first time is under stress.
You must learn and integrate these techniques prior to using them. This is and of itself, will allow you to apply these techniques when all around you is a hurricane of voices, radio calls, computer chatter, phones ringing, and so on. Two physical aspects of the techniques are easily visible. These physical components are like the key to a car. Once you turn the key, the rest kicks in automatically. Recognize the effects of stress as it begins to kick into gear, and turn on this calming technique to control the stress before it takes the wheel.
Breathing with your stomach and rolling your shoulders forward with each breath will serve as reminders to control your breath through the incident. Remember, once you can relax using these techniques you no longer have to recite the sound aloud. You can just say it to yourself while working away.
If you have a little kit you carry to work every day with notes, phonebooks, whatever, write the word "Calm" on an index card. At the start of the shift, place it somewhere around your display console. Then every time you see the "Calm" card during an incident, it will remind your subconscious to kick in the relaxation technique.
I once taught this system to a police sergeant at 2:00 PM. At 9:00 PM that very same day he was involved in delivering a baby. The next day in class he told me that he started the controlled breathing on the way to the call and stayed calm throughout the entire situation. His exact statement was, "I could not believe how easy and effective it was."
Have you ever met a person who just stays calm no matter what happens? Just before Halloween, my sergeant and I were standing next to the dispatch area. We were a small department and only worked two officers at a time. Our dispatcher, Chuck Roberts, answered a call and took down some notes. He then turned to us as calmly as could be and said, "At such and such address, in the rear apartment...a lady came home and found her boyfriend hanging..." I dropped everything I was doing and raced to the scene, past the family outside and into the apartment. I found a male subject hanging with a ligature around his neck. I found no vital signs -- in fact I found signs of obvious death. I was then securing the entire scene and realized I was still by myself, no sergeant. I got on the radio and called him and he got there about a minute later.
When he got there I asked what had taken him so long. I'll never forget his answer. "Chuck was so calm I thought he was playing a Halloween practical joke on us. I never thought it was a real call until I heard you calling for the prosecutor's office and coroner to respond."
Few people can stay as calm as that dispatcher without training. My hope is that you are blessed and never have to be involved in a truly traumatic critical incident. But if you do, having this technique in your professional arsenal of tools will help both during and after the incident.
Dropped! Wireless 911 Calls & You
Question and answer segment taken from Radiohead in Public Safety Communications Magazine, February 2009
Dear Radiohead,
Lately, I've been hearing a lot about wireless phone calls hanging up on 911. We've been discussing this problem on my shift, and no one seems to know the best thing to do. On one hand, the chances of us being able to track down the caller's exact location are next to nothing. On the other hand, if we don't attempt to call the person back and something goes wrong, then we look like uncaring idiots who won't take the time to dial a few numbers to check on someone who needs our help. What should a telecommunicator do in this situation?
Confused in Wisconsin
Dear Confused,
I could answer your question pretty quickly, but what fun would that be? A quick review of how this problem was creataed is in order.
In the good ol' days, when someone called for help, we got nada, zip, zero information about their location or even the phone number the call originated from. Then, after 911 was installed, we thought we were really advanced just because we could see the telephone number. But the information we received in 911's early days wasn't even as advanced as the caller ID system must of us have in our homes today. We didn't even get a name, just a phone number.
Then, Enhanced 911 (E911) was installed. Angels sang and fireworks erupted when telecommunicators realized that not only could we see the subscriber's telephone number, but we also to the person's name and (ta da!) address.
Everything was chugging along just peachy until someone got the idea that it would be great if people could be in constant communication. So someone invented a mobile phone so small it didn't require a hand truck to carry around. I remember the first time I heard about wireless. I thought the people were in desperate need of a new days in a nice padded cell. After all, who would carry a telephone around with them 24/7?
As the early 1990s dawned, leaders in the 911 industry started spreading the word like a battalion of modern day Paul Reveres, "Wireless is coming! Wireless is coming!" They told us that this new technology was going to turn 911 on its ear. They used terms like PCS (personal communications systems) and PCD (personal communications devices), and talked about portable phones that didn't resemble the 20", 10-lb. car phones seen on such cheesy television shows as Kojak and Cannon. These visionaries explained that the proliferation of these menacing little devices would mean a return to the good ol' days when a caller would scream for help, get out just enough information to confirm there was an emergency and then get cut off or hang up before the calltaker could find out where to send help.
As you know, those early warnings came true. And people who swore they would never want to be that available now carry devices that not only allow them to make telephone calls, but also to send e-mail, receive text messages and even watch TV. More and more Amercians are trading their old-fashioned landline telephones for wireless.
Receiving a 911 hang-up from one of these little buggers is a pain, plain and simple. The phone rings, the ANI/ALI display shows the location of a cell tower and the call goes dead. That brings us to the original question: Should telecommunicators call back, or just let it go?
As our country becomes more and more mobile, the need for a common sense approach to dropped wireless 911 calls has become more urgent than ever. Unfortunately, as I hope you're already aware, common sense isn't so common -- not even in comm centers.
The best answer: A look at comm center standards, including NENA Standard 56-001, revised Nov. 18, 2004, indicates that one attempt to call back an abandoned wireless 911 call is appropriate unless there's audible evidence of an emergent situation. If a wireless call is still open but silent, calltakers must challenge the call with TTY/TDD to ensure the caller isn't using a TTY to contact 911. If any evidence of an emergency exists, the calltaker must make every effort to contact the caller to determine a location of the incident and the nature of the call.
Your agency should have a policy in place that spells out -- in clear, unambiguous language -- the steps a calltaker should take to get the information needed to send a response to the caller.
After wireless, the next thing they throw at our industry will probably be video telephones. That development will really change the way 911 personnel do things. No more going to work in P.J.s or making weird, sarcastic faces at the telephone when the caller says something particularly eccentric or totally insane.
Dear Radiohead,
Lately, I've been hearing a lot about wireless phone calls hanging up on 911. We've been discussing this problem on my shift, and no one seems to know the best thing to do. On one hand, the chances of us being able to track down the caller's exact location are next to nothing. On the other hand, if we don't attempt to call the person back and something goes wrong, then we look like uncaring idiots who won't take the time to dial a few numbers to check on someone who needs our help. What should a telecommunicator do in this situation?
Confused in Wisconsin
Dear Confused,
I could answer your question pretty quickly, but what fun would that be? A quick review of how this problem was creataed is in order.
In the good ol' days, when someone called for help, we got nada, zip, zero information about their location or even the phone number the call originated from. Then, after 911 was installed, we thought we were really advanced just because we could see the telephone number. But the information we received in 911's early days wasn't even as advanced as the caller ID system must of us have in our homes today. We didn't even get a name, just a phone number.
Then, Enhanced 911 (E911) was installed. Angels sang and fireworks erupted when telecommunicators realized that not only could we see the subscriber's telephone number, but we also to the person's name and (ta da!) address.
Everything was chugging along just peachy until someone got the idea that it would be great if people could be in constant communication. So someone invented a mobile phone so small it didn't require a hand truck to carry around. I remember the first time I heard about wireless. I thought the people were in desperate need of a new days in a nice padded cell. After all, who would carry a telephone around with them 24/7?
As the early 1990s dawned, leaders in the 911 industry started spreading the word like a battalion of modern day Paul Reveres, "Wireless is coming! Wireless is coming!" They told us that this new technology was going to turn 911 on its ear. They used terms like PCS (personal communications systems) and PCD (personal communications devices), and talked about portable phones that didn't resemble the 20", 10-lb. car phones seen on such cheesy television shows as Kojak and Cannon. These visionaries explained that the proliferation of these menacing little devices would mean a return to the good ol' days when a caller would scream for help, get out just enough information to confirm there was an emergency and then get cut off or hang up before the calltaker could find out where to send help.
As you know, those early warnings came true. And people who swore they would never want to be that available now carry devices that not only allow them to make telephone calls, but also to send e-mail, receive text messages and even watch TV. More and more Amercians are trading their old-fashioned landline telephones for wireless.
Receiving a 911 hang-up from one of these little buggers is a pain, plain and simple. The phone rings, the ANI/ALI display shows the location of a cell tower and the call goes dead. That brings us to the original question: Should telecommunicators call back, or just let it go?
As our country becomes more and more mobile, the need for a common sense approach to dropped wireless 911 calls has become more urgent than ever. Unfortunately, as I hope you're already aware, common sense isn't so common -- not even in comm centers.
The best answer: A look at comm center standards, including NENA Standard 56-001, revised Nov. 18, 2004, indicates that one attempt to call back an abandoned wireless 911 call is appropriate unless there's audible evidence of an emergent situation. If a wireless call is still open but silent, calltakers must challenge the call with TTY/TDD to ensure the caller isn't using a TTY to contact 911. If any evidence of an emergency exists, the calltaker must make every effort to contact the caller to determine a location of the incident and the nature of the call.
Your agency should have a policy in place that spells out -- in clear, unambiguous language -- the steps a calltaker should take to get the information needed to send a response to the caller.
After wireless, the next thing they throw at our industry will probably be video telephones. That development will really change the way 911 personnel do things. No more going to work in P.J.s or making weird, sarcastic faces at the telephone when the caller says something particularly eccentric or totally insane.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Film at 11: How to Handle Media Inquiries, Part 2
Article taken from Public Safety Communications Magazaine July 2007
Written by Bob Smith
This is the second article in a two-part series dealing with the relationship between comm centers and the media. This month, we talk about management-and-agency-level media relations.
Today's culture revolves around a 24-hour news cycle. The need for fast, regular news and constant updates sometimes makes it difficult for public safety agencies to rely on written press releases and press conferences scheduled days in advance. As the public's need for information grows, public safety must adapt while still securing the agency's vital data.
Many public safety entities view the media as an adversary and maintain a policy of releasing information only when required by law. In recent years, however, it has become apparent that media attention can benefit both journalists and the public safety agency. Journalists benefit from having a known, knowledgeable source to call on when they need background information of a comment on a breaking story. Public safety agencies benefit from having regular, positive exposure in the local media.
If you've built an honest relationship with journalists, they'll be more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt and the opportunity to respond when a call goes bad. Consider the alternative. If the only time your agency is mentioned in the press is during a crisis, then the public is likely to develop a negative attitude toward your agency.
Public safety agencies are often supported by property taxes, local sales taxes or other government revenue sources. A public that has a negative--or even neutral--view of your agency can vote against comm center funding measures, such as tax increases and bond or levy issues. This can keep your agency's staffing levels low, equipment old and working conditions substandard, as well as prevent salary increases.
A dissatisfied public is much more apt to file lawsuits or other legal actions. If the community thinks the agency is substandard or unlikely to respond quickly, they may not call to report crimes, suspicious people, etc. They may take matters into their own hands or be afraid to leave their homes. When the public doesn't lend a hand, crime increases and quality of life decreases.
In compliance with the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and its Incident Command System (ICS) component, many agencies have appointed a public information officer (PIO) to serve as a direct liaison to the media and other outside entities. Whether the role of PIO is the sole responsibility of the individual or a single component of a more comprehensive job description, it's vital that the PIO be aware of the issues and intricacies of dealing with the many facets of media coverage, including deadlines for print and televised media outlets, and audio/video needs for online-and television-based media.
A few things to keep in mind when communicating with the media as an agency respresentative: Make sure that you know the informatioin you need to convey and that you're comfortable with public speaking before you take the lectern. Most mistakes are made by those not prepared to speak. Review your comments ahead of time. It's not necessary to memorize your notes word for word, but be familiar enough with the message that you can avoid reading your notes and easily find your place if you're distracted by a question or comment.
Use plain English, and be prepared to offer detailed explanations. Media outlets have specific audiences that are not public safety personnel and that are likely unfamiliar with public safety terminology and operational issues.
Be confident and honest. If you don't know the answer to a question or if you're asked a question you need to get some guidance on, respond that you'd like to answer that question after you do some research, or something similar. Don't try to make up an answer on the spot. Also, avoid saying "No comment." This phrase tends to convey an unwillingness to cooperate or an attempt to hide something. If the question deals with something that needs to remain confidential, then express that as a reason for not answering a question. Most journalists today are aware that public safety needs to maintain confidentiality in some areas and will accept this answer if it's explained to them adequately.
If your agency intends to make statistical information available, provide it in written form for distribution at a press conference or as supplemental information to a press release. Try to meet the needs of thet media. If you're dealing with print or television media outlets, be familiar with their deadlines and try to hold press conferences and issue press releases at times that accommodate those deadlines.
The bottom line: Dealing with the media can no longer be viewed as a chore that public safety must endure when a major incident happens. In fact, incidents can rapidly be thrust into the national spotlight. The tone of the media attention and the information offered during these incidents will reflect directly on the agencies involved, including the comm center. A PIO can ensure media relations are mutually beneficial arrangements. Media outlets can fulfill the public's need for information, and the comm center can ensure the proper message is being broadcast and that its agency is being shown as offering the most professional services possible to the citizens it serves.
Written by Bob Smith
This is the second article in a two-part series dealing with the relationship between comm centers and the media. This month, we talk about management-and-agency-level media relations.
Today's culture revolves around a 24-hour news cycle. The need for fast, regular news and constant updates sometimes makes it difficult for public safety agencies to rely on written press releases and press conferences scheduled days in advance. As the public's need for information grows, public safety must adapt while still securing the agency's vital data.
Many public safety entities view the media as an adversary and maintain a policy of releasing information only when required by law. In recent years, however, it has become apparent that media attention can benefit both journalists and the public safety agency. Journalists benefit from having a known, knowledgeable source to call on when they need background information of a comment on a breaking story. Public safety agencies benefit from having regular, positive exposure in the local media.
If you've built an honest relationship with journalists, they'll be more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt and the opportunity to respond when a call goes bad. Consider the alternative. If the only time your agency is mentioned in the press is during a crisis, then the public is likely to develop a negative attitude toward your agency.
Public safety agencies are often supported by property taxes, local sales taxes or other government revenue sources. A public that has a negative--or even neutral--view of your agency can vote against comm center funding measures, such as tax increases and bond or levy issues. This can keep your agency's staffing levels low, equipment old and working conditions substandard, as well as prevent salary increases.
A dissatisfied public is much more apt to file lawsuits or other legal actions. If the community thinks the agency is substandard or unlikely to respond quickly, they may not call to report crimes, suspicious people, etc. They may take matters into their own hands or be afraid to leave their homes. When the public doesn't lend a hand, crime increases and quality of life decreases.
In compliance with the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and its Incident Command System (ICS) component, many agencies have appointed a public information officer (PIO) to serve as a direct liaison to the media and other outside entities. Whether the role of PIO is the sole responsibility of the individual or a single component of a more comprehensive job description, it's vital that the PIO be aware of the issues and intricacies of dealing with the many facets of media coverage, including deadlines for print and televised media outlets, and audio/video needs for online-and television-based media.
A few things to keep in mind when communicating with the media as an agency respresentative: Make sure that you know the informatioin you need to convey and that you're comfortable with public speaking before you take the lectern. Most mistakes are made by those not prepared to speak. Review your comments ahead of time. It's not necessary to memorize your notes word for word, but be familiar enough with the message that you can avoid reading your notes and easily find your place if you're distracted by a question or comment.
Use plain English, and be prepared to offer detailed explanations. Media outlets have specific audiences that are not public safety personnel and that are likely unfamiliar with public safety terminology and operational issues.
Be confident and honest. If you don't know the answer to a question or if you're asked a question you need to get some guidance on, respond that you'd like to answer that question after you do some research, or something similar. Don't try to make up an answer on the spot. Also, avoid saying "No comment." This phrase tends to convey an unwillingness to cooperate or an attempt to hide something. If the question deals with something that needs to remain confidential, then express that as a reason for not answering a question. Most journalists today are aware that public safety needs to maintain confidentiality in some areas and will accept this answer if it's explained to them adequately.
If your agency intends to make statistical information available, provide it in written form for distribution at a press conference or as supplemental information to a press release. Try to meet the needs of thet media. If you're dealing with print or television media outlets, be familiar with their deadlines and try to hold press conferences and issue press releases at times that accommodate those deadlines.
The bottom line: Dealing with the media can no longer be viewed as a chore that public safety must endure when a major incident happens. In fact, incidents can rapidly be thrust into the national spotlight. The tone of the media attention and the information offered during these incidents will reflect directly on the agencies involved, including the comm center. A PIO can ensure media relations are mutually beneficial arrangements. Media outlets can fulfill the public's need for information, and the comm center can ensure the proper message is being broadcast and that its agency is being shown as offering the most professional services possible to the citizens it serves.
Film at 11: How to Handle Media Inquiries
Article taken from Public Safety Communications Magazine June 2007
Written by Bob Smith
This is the first of two articles dealing with comm centers and the media. In this article, we discuss the role of the front-line telecommunicator.
Spend time in any comm center, and you'll hear telecommunicators fielding calls from the media: "Hi, this is Joe with Channel 9. Anything going on?"
The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right of a free press, and many state and U.S. Supreme Court decisions affirm the "public's right to know." With the advent of push technology (e.g., e-mail news alerts, text messaging, online streaming video), the demand for immediate information is greater than ever before. The public has come to expect information on a developing situation immediately and for that information to be updated accurately and continuously throughout the duration of an incident. This expectation forces the media to constantly strive to be the first to provide information. And telecommunicators have access to information about criminal activity, law enforcement actions, building plans, medical histories, driving records and other operational information that may be of interest to the general public, including criminals. However, telecommunicators are expected to keep much of this information confidential. Each state has specific laws that govern the release of public-safety-related information to the media.
A common policy for handling media inquiries is to refer the caller to the lead agency handling the incident in question. This method may work for independent agencies, those not under the direct control of another public safety agency (i.e., fire department or police department), but it may not work for those who actually work in the agency responsible for incident command. With this in mind, many agencies have designated public information officers (PIOs), individuals who are trained in media relations. Because PIOs cannot be available 24/7, 365 days a year, agencies should also have a policy in place to handle routine calls from the media.
Absent designation of a specific PIO by the lead agency, telecommunicators should be given certain information they can relay to the media that will benefit all involved. Such information includes:
Written by Bob Smith
This is the first of two articles dealing with comm centers and the media. In this article, we discuss the role of the front-line telecommunicator.
Spend time in any comm center, and you'll hear telecommunicators fielding calls from the media: "Hi, this is Joe with Channel 9. Anything going on?"
The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right of a free press, and many state and U.S. Supreme Court decisions affirm the "public's right to know." With the advent of push technology (e.g., e-mail news alerts, text messaging, online streaming video), the demand for immediate information is greater than ever before. The public has come to expect information on a developing situation immediately and for that information to be updated accurately and continuously throughout the duration of an incident. This expectation forces the media to constantly strive to be the first to provide information. And telecommunicators have access to information about criminal activity, law enforcement actions, building plans, medical histories, driving records and other operational information that may be of interest to the general public, including criminals. However, telecommunicators are expected to keep much of this information confidential. Each state has specific laws that govern the release of public-safety-related information to the media.
A common policy for handling media inquiries is to refer the caller to the lead agency handling the incident in question. This method may work for independent agencies, those not under the direct control of another public safety agency (i.e., fire department or police department), but it may not work for those who actually work in the agency responsible for incident command. With this in mind, many agencies have designated public information officers (PIOs), individuals who are trained in media relations. Because PIOs cannot be available 24/7, 365 days a year, agencies should also have a policy in place to handle routine calls from the media.
Absent designation of a specific PIO by the lead agency, telecommunicators should be given certain information they can relay to the media that will benefit all involved. Such information includes:
- Whether or not the lead agency will designate a PIO to handle a specific incident;
- Whether the agency will issue a statement, provide a press release or hold a press conference;
- How often information will be updated;
- Whether a press area has been designated on scene; and
- Who the media contact on scene is.
Certain information should never be released to individuals outside the public safety arena. State or local laws may prohibit the removal of records from the PSAP or the disclosure of their contents to those outside the agency. Information obtained through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database is governed by federal regulations that impose strict confidentiality requirements on those certified to use the system. Emergency medical calls demand a high level of confidentiality as well, and individuals providing medical information to the telecommunicator have a right to expect their information will be kept confidential, as appropriate.
A common rule of thumb to use in releasing information to the media about specific incidents, especially incidents that are still in progress, is to provide only information that has already been broadcast to the responders on an unsecured radio frequency. Still, not all of what is said over a radio frequency during the heat of battle is appropriate for public dissemination, and some information may have been inadvertently broadcast that would otherwise warrant a higher level of confidentiality. Some guidelines:
- Avoid releasing names, particularly those of juveniles, victims or suspects. Many states have specific laws regarding the release of names, and telecommunicators should become familiar with the applicable laws.
- Explain yourself as thoroughly as possible. Don't assume that because a caller works for a local media outlet and knows you by name or has covered the local public safety arena for years that they understand all facets of the industry. Explanations up front, as time allows, go a long way toward ensuring the correct message is released to the public and prevents miscommunications and the need for retractions or corrections later.
- Avoid jargon or technical terms. Spell out acronyms and abbreviations, such as BOLO or ATL.
- Speak for the organization. Use the agency's name as much as possible. This prevents inadvertent labeling of you personally as the authority on the situation.
The bottom line: Comm centers must have policies, procedures and guidelines that address media inquiries. Established guidelines serve to minimize the PSAP's and the telecommunicator's liability exposure and help agencies create a professional and mutually beneficial working relationship with the media.
Handling The Hostage Call
Information Received from APCO Institute, Inc.
Written by Kathy Schatel, APCO Institute EMD Services Coordinator
Hostage calls are generally either calls from the hostage taker himself or from someone calling to report a hostage situation. The telecommunicator is the first point of contact, and must fulfill the role of negotiator until one arrives. In this article, we will explore some techniques for gathering information, and handling a telephone call from a hostage taker. It will not make the telecommunicator a hostage negotiator--that takes training and experience--but it will enable the telecommunicator to draw from a body of knowledge to process the call properly.
There are two objectives in handling hostage situations. The primary objective is to preserve life. This includes the lives of hostages, civilians, personnel, and even the hostage taker himself. The secondary objective is the apprehension of the perpetrator, and the recovery of property. It is important to keep these objectives in mind when handling hostage calls.
There are a few principles to keep in mind as well. The hostage, as a person, has no value to the hostage taker other than as a tool to get what he wants. However, it is important to realize that the hostage taker has just as much at stake as authorities do to not let the situation get violent. Getting killed is not going to help the hostage taker unless suicide is his motive.
There are three crucial variables in hostage situations. These are power, information and time-delay. The hostage taker is seeking power over life and over freedom. Perceived power is more important than actual power possessed. Information is vital for authorities to have a clear understanding of the situation.
Time is perhaps the most crucial element in determining the outcome of a hostage situation. The more time passes, the more likely it is that the situation will be resolved without loss of life. There are several reasons for this. Time can reduce stress and anxiety, and increases rationality of the hostage taker. Time also increases the need for basics such as food and drink. Although many hostages think about it, few attempt to escape. The passage of time, however, increases opportunities for hostages to escape.
The passage of time also allows for rapport to develop between the negotiator and the hostage taker, and sometimes the hostage takers' expectations are reduced.
There are negative effects to the passing of time, however. Exhaustion on the part of authorities is a factor, as is a loss of objectivity. Boredom also sets in and can hinder negotiation tactics.
When handling a call from a hostage taker, there are several techniques to keep in mind. The caller may very well be in an emotional or agitated state. One way to calm the caller is to speak in a voice that is softer and slower than the suspects. Do not let your emotions rise to the same level as the suspect.
Relate to the hostage taker on his level. Adapt your conversation to his educational and vocabulary level. Listen for clues as to the subject's emotional state, truthfulness, rationality and willingness to negotiate. Listen also for a change in these things, as well as a change in demands. Again, speak slowly and softly.
One technique to use in taking calls from hostage takers is to ask open-ended questions. In doing so, the hostage taker cannot answer with a simple "yes" or "no." By having to elaborate on his responses, the hostage taker may be able to release some of the anger and frustration he is experiencing. It is also a way to obtain more information from the hostage taker. Once critical information, such as location, has been obtained and personnel have been dispatched, allowing the suspect to "vent" is encouraged. Downplay what the suspect has done so far. Show understanding through your words and tone of voice. Be supportive when the suspect is expressing rational thoughts.
Repeat or paraphrase what the hostage taker tells you. When he is expressing emotions, it is important to label and respond to the emotion. "I understand that you are angry, could you tell me more about it?" Encourage the hostage taker to talk through statements such as, "Oh, I see."..."Is that so?"..."I would like to hear your side."...and "Could you tell me about it?"
There are several things that a telecommunicator must find out in order to effectively help responding personnel with a hostage situation. Some of the questions may vary, depending upon whether one is speaking to the hostage taker himself or someone calling to report a hostage situation.
As is typical in caller interrogation, it is important to find out where the activity is taking place. Then find out what has occurred and who is involved. Who is the suspect? What are his goals? How many hostages are there? What are their physical descriptions? What is their physical condition? Are there any injuries?
Find out when the incident occurred. How long have the hostages been held? What are the hostage taker's demands? What weapons does he have in his possession?
There are many things that a telecommunicator can do to help responding personnel even once a negotiator is on the scene. The telecommunicator can get a description of the building in terms of layout, escape routes and where telephones are located within the building. The telecommunicator can also identify the safest approach and escape routes as well as observation points for responding personnel.
Background information can also be discovered about the suspect in terms of character, intelligence, emotional state, medications or problems he may have been facing. All of these things can be an asset to those engaged in negotiations with the suspect.
Since the telecommunicator may play the role of negotiator until one arrives, it is important to be aware of the characteristics of good negotiators.
It is important for a negotiator to have interpersonal sensitivity. This means the ability to sense how another person is feeling, even if that person is engaged in something criminal like the holding of hostages. It also means being tolerant of people whose lifestyle or life choices may be different from the negotiator's own. Cognitive complexity is also a characteristic of a good negotiator. The ability to process several tasks simultaneously is required of the job.
A tolerance of ambiguity is also essential. Nearly everything in a hostage situation is uncertain and unclear. The negotiator may have mixed feelings toward the hostage taker. While sympathizing with the problems that have placed the suspect in that position, that does not necessarily correspond to acceptance of the hostage taker's actions. In addition, the hostage taker is experiencing ambiguous feelings and the negotiator needs to understand and accept this.
A positive self-concept is a crucial characteristic of a good negotiator. A strong self-concept will allow the negotiator to listen to the hostage taker's anger and abuse without reacting to it on a personal level.
It is important for a negotiator to have low authoritarianism. Research has shown that people in positioins of authority generally do not make good negotiators. This may be because the person in a position of authority is trying to serve both the department and the suspect at the same time. It is difficult to have two masters. A much better solution is a negotiator who can concentrate all of his or her efforts on the suspect.
Previous interviewing experience is a helpful characteristic. This is because interviewers are trained to listen, a skill crucial to successful negotiation.
Past experience in stressful situations is an asset in hostage negotiations. This will ensure that the negotiator has the emotional stability to handle whatever might occur during a hostage situation.
Verbal skills are a must. While listening is crucial, the negotiator must be able to persuade the hostage taker that the negotiator's point of view is the rational and correct one. The negotiator must be able to use logical arguments to persuade the hostage taker, and must be able to counteract the hostage taker's reasoning.
The negotiator must be able to remain flexible under pressure. The situation can change very quickly in a hostage situation and the negotiator must be willing to flow with the changes.
The negotiator must believe in the power of verbal persuasion and must believe that resolving the situation through negotiation is the best alternative. If the negotiator is thinking, "Gosh, it would be better if we just blew this guy away" there is unlikely to be a successful resolution to the conflict.
Bargaining skills, the ability to compromise, are important. Knowing what can and cannot be negotiated, and convincing the suspect to take less than what he desires takes ability and effort.
The more skills of a successful negotiator that a telecommunicator can incorporate into his/her conversation with a hostage taker, the more likely the situation can be resolved successfully without loss of life.
As mentioned previously, time is one of the most crucial elements of hostage negotiation. The more time that passes, the more likely that the situation will be resolved without loss of life.
One method of stalling for time is to discuss everything in detail. Ask for detailed descriptions. Ask questions that elaborate on information the suspect has given you. It is helpful to keep the perpetrator in a constant decision making status. If the hostage taker wants sandwiches, find out what kind of sandwiches. What type of bread would he like? Obviously, this should not be done to the point of annoyance. The idea is that statements can be elaborated upon to gain time for responding personnel to organize and consider their options.
Open-ended questions can accomplish the same objectives as discussing things in detail. Statements such as "Tell me about when you first started to feel this way" or "What events led up to this?" may encourage the hostage taker to vent and again provide additional time.
The importance of listening has already been discussed. It is necessary to emphasize the importance of not interrupting the hostage taker. Not only might this lead to aggravating the suspect, but once he has been cut off, he may no longer elaborate on his thoughts. Allow the suspect to ramble on, offering only the usual interjections of "Uh-huh," "I see," and the like.
Restatement of content, or paraphrasing, is another stalling tactic. Tell the suspect that you want to make sure you understand him, and then repeat the content. Pause to ask questions such as, "Am I correct so far?" This allows the hostage taker to confirm and perhaps elaborate further on what has been said. Both of which buy additional time.
Having the hostage taker reflect upon his feelings can be another delaying tactic. Statements such as, "I understand you are angry, has there been another time when you felt this way? How did you handle it?" or "Why do you think this upset you so much?" require the suspect to reflect on his feelings and emotions and have the added bonus of perhaps calming down the suspect.
Written by Kathy Schatel, APCO Institute EMD Services Coordinator
Hostage calls are generally either calls from the hostage taker himself or from someone calling to report a hostage situation. The telecommunicator is the first point of contact, and must fulfill the role of negotiator until one arrives. In this article, we will explore some techniques for gathering information, and handling a telephone call from a hostage taker. It will not make the telecommunicator a hostage negotiator--that takes training and experience--but it will enable the telecommunicator to draw from a body of knowledge to process the call properly.
There are two objectives in handling hostage situations. The primary objective is to preserve life. This includes the lives of hostages, civilians, personnel, and even the hostage taker himself. The secondary objective is the apprehension of the perpetrator, and the recovery of property. It is important to keep these objectives in mind when handling hostage calls.
There are a few principles to keep in mind as well. The hostage, as a person, has no value to the hostage taker other than as a tool to get what he wants. However, it is important to realize that the hostage taker has just as much at stake as authorities do to not let the situation get violent. Getting killed is not going to help the hostage taker unless suicide is his motive.
There are three crucial variables in hostage situations. These are power, information and time-delay. The hostage taker is seeking power over life and over freedom. Perceived power is more important than actual power possessed. Information is vital for authorities to have a clear understanding of the situation.
Time is perhaps the most crucial element in determining the outcome of a hostage situation. The more time passes, the more likely it is that the situation will be resolved without loss of life. There are several reasons for this. Time can reduce stress and anxiety, and increases rationality of the hostage taker. Time also increases the need for basics such as food and drink. Although many hostages think about it, few attempt to escape. The passage of time, however, increases opportunities for hostages to escape.
The passage of time also allows for rapport to develop between the negotiator and the hostage taker, and sometimes the hostage takers' expectations are reduced.
There are negative effects to the passing of time, however. Exhaustion on the part of authorities is a factor, as is a loss of objectivity. Boredom also sets in and can hinder negotiation tactics.
When handling a call from a hostage taker, there are several techniques to keep in mind. The caller may very well be in an emotional or agitated state. One way to calm the caller is to speak in a voice that is softer and slower than the suspects. Do not let your emotions rise to the same level as the suspect.
Relate to the hostage taker on his level. Adapt your conversation to his educational and vocabulary level. Listen for clues as to the subject's emotional state, truthfulness, rationality and willingness to negotiate. Listen also for a change in these things, as well as a change in demands. Again, speak slowly and softly.
One technique to use in taking calls from hostage takers is to ask open-ended questions. In doing so, the hostage taker cannot answer with a simple "yes" or "no." By having to elaborate on his responses, the hostage taker may be able to release some of the anger and frustration he is experiencing. It is also a way to obtain more information from the hostage taker. Once critical information, such as location, has been obtained and personnel have been dispatched, allowing the suspect to "vent" is encouraged. Downplay what the suspect has done so far. Show understanding through your words and tone of voice. Be supportive when the suspect is expressing rational thoughts.
Repeat or paraphrase what the hostage taker tells you. When he is expressing emotions, it is important to label and respond to the emotion. "I understand that you are angry, could you tell me more about it?" Encourage the hostage taker to talk through statements such as, "Oh, I see."..."Is that so?"..."I would like to hear your side."...and "Could you tell me about it?"
There are several things that a telecommunicator must find out in order to effectively help responding personnel with a hostage situation. Some of the questions may vary, depending upon whether one is speaking to the hostage taker himself or someone calling to report a hostage situation.
As is typical in caller interrogation, it is important to find out where the activity is taking place. Then find out what has occurred and who is involved. Who is the suspect? What are his goals? How many hostages are there? What are their physical descriptions? What is their physical condition? Are there any injuries?
Find out when the incident occurred. How long have the hostages been held? What are the hostage taker's demands? What weapons does he have in his possession?
There are many things that a telecommunicator can do to help responding personnel even once a negotiator is on the scene. The telecommunicator can get a description of the building in terms of layout, escape routes and where telephones are located within the building. The telecommunicator can also identify the safest approach and escape routes as well as observation points for responding personnel.
Background information can also be discovered about the suspect in terms of character, intelligence, emotional state, medications or problems he may have been facing. All of these things can be an asset to those engaged in negotiations with the suspect.
Since the telecommunicator may play the role of negotiator until one arrives, it is important to be aware of the characteristics of good negotiators.
It is important for a negotiator to have interpersonal sensitivity. This means the ability to sense how another person is feeling, even if that person is engaged in something criminal like the holding of hostages. It also means being tolerant of people whose lifestyle or life choices may be different from the negotiator's own. Cognitive complexity is also a characteristic of a good negotiator. The ability to process several tasks simultaneously is required of the job.
A tolerance of ambiguity is also essential. Nearly everything in a hostage situation is uncertain and unclear. The negotiator may have mixed feelings toward the hostage taker. While sympathizing with the problems that have placed the suspect in that position, that does not necessarily correspond to acceptance of the hostage taker's actions. In addition, the hostage taker is experiencing ambiguous feelings and the negotiator needs to understand and accept this.
A positive self-concept is a crucial characteristic of a good negotiator. A strong self-concept will allow the negotiator to listen to the hostage taker's anger and abuse without reacting to it on a personal level.
It is important for a negotiator to have low authoritarianism. Research has shown that people in positioins of authority generally do not make good negotiators. This may be because the person in a position of authority is trying to serve both the department and the suspect at the same time. It is difficult to have two masters. A much better solution is a negotiator who can concentrate all of his or her efforts on the suspect.
Previous interviewing experience is a helpful characteristic. This is because interviewers are trained to listen, a skill crucial to successful negotiation.
Past experience in stressful situations is an asset in hostage negotiations. This will ensure that the negotiator has the emotional stability to handle whatever might occur during a hostage situation.
Verbal skills are a must. While listening is crucial, the negotiator must be able to persuade the hostage taker that the negotiator's point of view is the rational and correct one. The negotiator must be able to use logical arguments to persuade the hostage taker, and must be able to counteract the hostage taker's reasoning.
The negotiator must be able to remain flexible under pressure. The situation can change very quickly in a hostage situation and the negotiator must be willing to flow with the changes.
The negotiator must believe in the power of verbal persuasion and must believe that resolving the situation through negotiation is the best alternative. If the negotiator is thinking, "Gosh, it would be better if we just blew this guy away" there is unlikely to be a successful resolution to the conflict.
Bargaining skills, the ability to compromise, are important. Knowing what can and cannot be negotiated, and convincing the suspect to take less than what he desires takes ability and effort.
The more skills of a successful negotiator that a telecommunicator can incorporate into his/her conversation with a hostage taker, the more likely the situation can be resolved successfully without loss of life.
As mentioned previously, time is one of the most crucial elements of hostage negotiation. The more time that passes, the more likely that the situation will be resolved without loss of life.
One method of stalling for time is to discuss everything in detail. Ask for detailed descriptions. Ask questions that elaborate on information the suspect has given you. It is helpful to keep the perpetrator in a constant decision making status. If the hostage taker wants sandwiches, find out what kind of sandwiches. What type of bread would he like? Obviously, this should not be done to the point of annoyance. The idea is that statements can be elaborated upon to gain time for responding personnel to organize and consider their options.
Open-ended questions can accomplish the same objectives as discussing things in detail. Statements such as "Tell me about when you first started to feel this way" or "What events led up to this?" may encourage the hostage taker to vent and again provide additional time.
The importance of listening has already been discussed. It is necessary to emphasize the importance of not interrupting the hostage taker. Not only might this lead to aggravating the suspect, but once he has been cut off, he may no longer elaborate on his thoughts. Allow the suspect to ramble on, offering only the usual interjections of "Uh-huh," "I see," and the like.
Restatement of content, or paraphrasing, is another stalling tactic. Tell the suspect that you want to make sure you understand him, and then repeat the content. Pause to ask questions such as, "Am I correct so far?" This allows the hostage taker to confirm and perhaps elaborate further on what has been said. Both of which buy additional time.
Having the hostage taker reflect upon his feelings can be another delaying tactic. Statements such as, "I understand you are angry, has there been another time when you felt this way? How did you handle it?" or "Why do you think this upset you so much?" require the suspect to reflect on his feelings and emotions and have the added bonus of perhaps calming down the suspect.
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