Why Do Dispatchers Ask So Many Questions?
I worked for years as a public safety telecommunicator, or dispatcher, if you want. After years of answering 911, I recall a time when I was already in my thirties, having to call 911 to report an emergency that was affecting me. I was holding my phone, looking down at it, and I had to pause to ask myself, “How do I call 911?” I literally could not remember the phone number for a second, even though I was SAYING the number. It’s actually not unusual at all. When your mind gets hijacked by stress, you literally can’t think the same way you normally would. It’s one of the reasons you’ll really appreciate that the phone number for emergency services is short, if you ever have to use it. When I did get through and the operator answered my call, I knew what basic information I had to say and I knew what questions they were going to ask me. Thankfully, the rest of that call went very smoothly for me. I recognize that’s partially because I was already trained, and because as the situation developed, I understood nobody was seriously injured.
As someone who has taken thousands of 911 calls, I think back to the incident where I was so initially stressed out that I had difficulty remembering basic information, and this helps me empathize with how and why people sometimes feel genuinely frustrated by the amount of questions operators ask — especially if you don’t understand why, or what all might be going on during your call. I’d like to try to reduce some of that frustration and give a quick review of some of the things that may be happening in the background when you make a call for emergency services. And if you happen to work in public safety telecommunications, this might be a nice quick review for you too.
Let’s start with a pretend scenario that could happen in real life. Let’s say you are at 1234 Beetlejuice Lane Southwest, in BestTownEver. You had a long day at work and wanted spaghetti for dinner, so you went to the grocery store, bought your groceries, put them in the trunk of your blue Toyota Camry, and by the time you get home it’s already 7:30 at night. You hear a dog barking, you feel a little distracted, and the next thing you know you are being attacked by strangers in masks, holding guns, demanding your purse and the keys to your car. You were able to run away with your cellphone, and with adrenaline high, you’re trying to think if you should go into your house or stay where people can see you, and all you can think is that you need help, when you call 911 and an operator answers the phone. As your phone connects, you see the two people who attacked you speed away in your car.
Ideally the telecommunicator on the end of the line identifies where you’ve called by saying something like, “BestTownEver 9-1-1, where is your emergency?” This lets you know you’ve reached the correct place, and asks you where you are before they ask anything else. Do you know why that is? Think about what would happen if someone you loved called you needing help. You could get all the information about what happened, you could know exactly who you’re talking to, but let’s say during the call their phone battery died, or something happened and there was a disconnect, and then you couldn’t reach them again. If you’d forgotten to get the information of exactly where they were, how would you know where to go? It’s very important that when you call, if you give no other piece of information, you at least provide the location, so someone can come and look for anyone who may be in distress or need of help. Although technology should be able to show your location when you call 911, it sometimes makes mistakes and can’t verify the same way a person can. Try to be patient.
During your call the telecommunicator is most likely using a computer and software for Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) to enter the information you’re giving them into a form that helps everyone know what information you’re providing, and this helps the telecommunicator ask questions in a certain way so they get the information they need to help you. Imagine there are twenty computers seeing this information simultaneously, every time the call taker hits enter, with live updates every second. Some of those computers belong to dispatchers who are going to call police officers and other field responders on the radio to send them to your location. Some of those computers are actually in police officers’ and other first responders’ cars (or “units,” as they typically call whatever kind of vehicle they’re driving), so they can see the information right from their vehicle on their MDTs, or mobile data terminals. (Some agencies might also call it an MDC, for mobile data computer.)
The telecommunicator taking your call will typically ask for your location, name, and phone number first. Don’t be surprised if they ask you to repeat all that critical information a second time. It doesn’t mean they aren’t listening to you. They’re trying to minimize mistakes and verify accurate information. Remember, they have to follow their agency’s policies too.
Next, the telecommunicator will ask you what the emergency situation is. Just do your best to say exactly what happened.
In our pretend situation, you’ve been attacked, and your bag and car were stolen. You would say this to whoever is taking your call. This type of crime is called carjacking, but you don’t have to know that term at all when you’re calling. The operator taking your call should know, based on their training, and should be coding the call into the computer as a carjacking based on the information you’re telling them. When the dispatcher in the same room sees a call drop into their pending queue screen, they’ll see the type of call is carjacking, already knowing certain information by that word, and they’ll send help.
In this situation, typically your body’s adrenaline runs pretty high, which is good, because it helps you focus and fight for your life if you have to. You also may be hurt but may not be feeling any pain whatsoever, so you may not even know you’ve been injured. Don’t be surprised if the operator asks you to look at your own body, to the best of your ability, to check for blood or injuries you may have sustained but didn’t realize. They’ll also probably ask if you’re alone, or if there are any other persons with you or in your car when it was taken.
In a situation like this, the operator will also likely be asking for the description of your car and any other vehicle you saw that may have been involved. Telecommunicators are trained to ask for this information in a certain way, but they understand if all you can say is “blue car.” They should be asking you for your license plate, and if you don’t know it, don’t be surprised if they’re asking for your full name and date of birth so they can check the motor vehicle registration files they have access to.
Questions Help Determine Response
The reason for asking many of these questions is so the operators can determine triage and resourcing. If you know you’re injured, they’ll be getting medical units ready to head to your location. Let’s say there was someone in your car when it was taken, but you got out. Depending on the availability of resources and the situation at hand, you’ll typically be getting more than one responder, because they want to find the victim in your car and ensure their safety, as well as your continued safety. If there is immediate or imminent danger to life, the public safety responders will be driving there faster, with their lights and sirens on, to try to get there as soon as possible to prevent death or further injury.
During your call, the operator will probably want to keep you on the line for updates as the situation evolves. Even if you don’t see anyone around, someone may be watching you that you don’t know about, and they might need information they haven’t had a chance to ask yet. Also, you might need instructions on what to do or where to go. Although there are categories and similarities between types of events, the details of every situation are different.
More questions you may be asked: Are there weapons involved? In the car, on the criminals, on the victim? Easily accessible? Do you know the clothing descriptions of the persons involved? Remember to be prepared to tell the operator what you’re wearing as well. When an officer is heading into a situation where danger may be present, they want to be mentally prepared, and they want to know where that danger is coming from before they ever arrive. If you know there are weapons involved and where they’re located, you can anticipate threats more easily and protect life. And if you have descriptions of the vehicles involved and the suspects’ clothing, it’s easier to spot what you’re looking for. Officers want to make sure they’re looking for the correct car, the correct suspects, and even the correct victim. When an officer arrives, a stranger to all the parties involved, will they be able to tell the difference between the victim and the suspects? The questions operators ask you during the call help build that picture for them.
It’s important to realize that having structure, a way of doing things, an order for how to gather information, makes sense for making sure you get all the information. When you have a process and order you go through all the time, you become used to remembering what information comes next, and you process it faster. There are times when you have so much information coming at you and it’s difficult to get it all in, but it’s much easier when you remember to always build on the basic foundations:
- Where
- Your call-back phone number
- Who
- What
- When
- Weapons/Hazards
- Injuries
- How, how much, how many
Finally, one thing people often fail to remember is that the person taking your call and putting it into the computer is creating a legal document themselves. The voice call itself is recorded, yes, but the CAD notes the operator is putting into the computer in real time are vitally important to determining what type of response is needed, and they help justify decisions made in seconds. The CAD call itself is admissible in court. Telecommunicators do get subpoenaed at times to testify in cases, sometimes years after they took the call, and their notes may be the only thing they have to remind them of what was going on during that call. When you consider that, you can see why they want to get good information — for you, for the field responders, and for themselves.
Try to keep in mind, although you may experience frustration, the operator typically is asking because they really do care about you and about doing their job to the best of their ability. The questions they ask aren’t meant to delay help. They’re meant to make sure the right people respond with the right information and tools to help appropriately.
A police officer approaching a domestic disturbance wants to know if weapons are involved. A firefighter responding to a house fire wants to know if anyone may be trapped inside. A paramedic treating chest pain wants to know if the patient is still conscious and breathing.
The questions may seem repetitive or frustrating when you’re scared, and the person taking your call will also repeat a lot of the information you’re giving them back to you, but each answer helps paint a picture for responders to make safer and better decisions before they even arrive. You really can help telecommunicators save time and save lives, and don’t worry if you don’t remember everything right away. Just do the best you can to answer the best way you know how in that moment. Just like I had difficulty remembering the phone number to 911, you may have difficulty remembering basic information, but as your mind and body adjust, hopefully you’ll gradually become less frustrated during your call.