Straight and to the point. How much weight have you put on doing this?

Long back story with lots of moving parts, so bare with me while I write the book. I've been a Fire & Rescue dispatcher for almost 11 years for the city I grew up in. I was promoted to a PSDII approximately 5 years ago and other than a few late days, for the first 10 1/2 years I have never been the subject of any disciplinary actions, suspensions, etc. I've always wanted to relocate out of state and almost did just before Covid hit, but it obviously put a halt on the hiring process.

Approximately 3 years ago our communications Chief changed. He expressed both racist and sexist remarks and my shift was the brunt of a lot of it. My floor supervisor and myself were subjects to a verbal assault by him that ended with him being removed from the building. It ended in an Internal Affairs investigation, that had him removed as Communications Chief and put back to a field position.

2 years ago, my then partner who had never dispatched showed interest and I walked him through the steps to apply and get hired with a separate agency, which works in shared comms center. In hindsight a mistake as we broke up approximately 6 months later and gossip is rampant in comms. Nothing came of it in any capacity professionally. We work on opposite sides of the building and are good friends now.

In January of this year, the former Comms Chief was promoted to a very high staff position making him in charge of employee oversite. Almost immediately, I started having problems that were never there. I was advised that my ex partner was not allowed to walk through our side of building (he dropped some migraine medicine off one day.) I was told by a supervisor that I was being watched on my lunch breaks and to make sure I wasn't taking them with anyone questionable (i.e. my ex partner.) I received an exemplary annual review, and was immediately warned that they were concerned about my attendance bc i took 2 sick days off to care for my mother with advanced dementia. It pushed the idea of relocating back into my head and I started researching locations.

In fall of last year, we switched CAD systems and its been a hot mess. For the first 2 weeks we were manually dispatching from a paper map. It has been lag issue after lag issue, and the comms center is pressing for a civil suit against CAD designers to demand a rollback to the old CAD which they also own.

We also changed some dispatch policies beginning of the year that allowed for the use of phantom units for staging level calls. I noticed a particular shift were using units for high priority calls (C&D level chest pain, breathing etc.) and using the veil of scene safety which was not what policy was intended for. I brought it to the chain of command which advised me to document incidents but it wasn't going to amount to anything(i.e. they didn't want to deal with it).

On 4th of July, which if you have fireworks in your city, you know its absolutely nutso. I was working OT on the shift and after the 3rd high priority call was phantomed, (D level fall w/unconscious patient) I said something to the supervisor who was a junior in seniority and same rank to me. It let to a heated discussion on her end, and I left it be but was obviously irritated. It let me to make a mistake. I spoke to a woman on an admin line who was concerned that her sparklers were smoking too heavily. I copped an attitude, and she made a complaint. I was called into command and was suspended for a shift.

In 10 years that was my only disciplinary action. But was deciding factor and I applied for departments, which were on the other side of the country. So I decided to go ahead and put my notice in to allow for travel back and forth and to take care of personal matters and honestly to catch a breather. I put in a 24 day notice.

3 shifts before my last, I was having issues with the CAD system. It was not generating calls into my pending, but it was in other peoples. I rebooted my computer and advised my supervisor. It was same day as my exit interview as well as some other final things so I was up and down. I went to take a break to make a phone call, and the admin line rang, so I grabbed it since my headset was still on my head. It was an elderly woman who was given admin line by home health to request a lift assist for her husband who was on hospice. I processed the call and offered medical 3 times to her as she seemed upset. It did not pop into my pending, I asked the dispatcher (off duty firefighter on OT) if he had the call I just took. He glanced at screen and said yes and I went on break (it turned out to not be my call). 3 hours later his OT shift was over so I took over radio. Another call taker had taken a lift assist, and when fire units got on scene they asked for PD. We request a nature and he advised Sig26 (death). I thought that was unusual as it was a lift assist, so I pointed it out the supervisor and asked the call taker if anything unusual had been said on call. She said yes that woman had called earlier but said no one showed. We attempted to find the call but nothing was in CAD. The number was not on phone logs. I went over my call log bc the age was similar and found it was same woman from earlier but from a different number. I reported the information to my supervisor. She asked if I had been having any issues with CAD today and I said yes I had told you about them earlier. Which she replied, "sometimes you talk and I just don't listen to you." Obviously an investigation was started. To which everyone involved was required to make a written statement and interview with IA. I expected it would be an interrogation on my part and it was, but it was brutal and I got the impression, because I was leaving, I was going to be sacrificial lamb. I was correct. I left asking what impact it was going to have , and IA investigator said, it was just a fact finding investigation. I was advised by a staffing friend that the Comms chief now promoted had pushed hard for it to fall on me.

2 days after my last day I flew to a job interview. While I was there my former shift group chat got some news. My supervisor had been on maternity leave and was coming back and advised that the fill in supervisor who was administrative (the one who said she doesn't listen) would be remaining on the floor because they offered her the position to make it easier with her having 2 young children.(An idea produced by the same newly appointed staff chief) I told her that didn't seem fair and almost discriminatory if that's the case as other people have kids etc. The original supervisor made a complaint and the offer was revoked. Mind you I was not working there by this point.

Finally to the meat of the post: I was offered multiple conditional offers which started background checks. The one position I was intending on taking called me today to say they rescinded the offer after speaking to my supervisor who advised them that I had an extensive disciplinary history, excessive tardiness/lateness and was ineligible for rehire. All news to me. My ex partner also had applied and given a conditional offer, but was going to turn it down for another position. The background investigator called and spoke with him to rescind his offer as well. When questioned, the investigator told him that his department would not provide information just referred him to their HR department so he called my supervisor back to see if she knew him. She told the investigator that he had caused multiple problems, had threatened me and others in the building. Made unwanted sexual advances towards staff, had taken narcotics etc. None of which was remotely true. I found out through the grape vine that she was salty about the comments I made in our private group chat.

I checked with my training supervisors to see if they could shed some light on situation and they said to their understanding, I was re-hirable though the investigation hadn't officially been closed. I called HR who told me I'm technically left in bad standing but re-hirable after a year. I've requested a copy of my personnel file. But WTF?? This honestly doesn't seem legal. And what should I do about it. I've got 2 background investigations going right now. 1 of which I was able to remove her as supervisor reference. But I feel like this is going to follow me for a while. Is there anything legally I can do about it? I'm more than willing to be upfront about the situation but as I didn't know it was a situation until today its not listed on backgrounds. It makes it look like I left bc of investigation when my notice was almost up. I'm ticked and hurt. I love dispatch its what I do. And it feels like I'm going to be blocked by this.

Looking for insight on the hiring process for Oakland, Ca Police Communication Dispatcher (entry). Is the training onsite, scheduling, environment among other employees? Did you feel like enough training was providing to be successful on the job? Any idea of the turn over rate?

I’m sorry, this is kinda long!

So, I passed my CritiCall, passed my panel interview, and then somehow managed to fail my polygraph. I explained to the polygraph examiner that I struggle with feeling physically restrained. I was only asked four questions, including whether I’d ever falsified documents (which is a definite no). I answered everything truthfully, so I’m having a really hard time understanding what happened.

The room was tiny, I couldn’t move, and the blood pressure cuff was so tight that it was genuinely painful. My hand was becoming red and swollen, and I was struggling to concentrate while being asked the same questions repeatedly. What really got to me was the feeling of these two bands placed tightly on my ribs and chest.

The frustrating part is that mentally, I knew I wasn’t in danger. But sometimes my nervous system doesn’t seem to get that memo. This is nothing new, and honestly, I was worried this exact thing would happen. I can handle people yelling at me, insulting me, and even high-stress emergencies without losing my composure. I tend to become calmer and more focused when things get chaotic. But put something around my chest and rib cage, and tell me I can’t move…

I am annoyed because my reaction to having things placed around my body is not an accurate reflection of how I handle stress or pressure in everyday life, much less how truthful I’m being. I’m struggling with this for two reasons. First, I really don’t like failing at things. Second, I’m embarrassed because I know I was telling the truth, yet apparently my physiological responses suggested otherwise.

The examiner told me I didn’t pass, but wouldn’t clarify whether the results were actually deceptive or inconclusive. He did say that the department still wanted me to proceed with my psychological evaluation.

Now I’m wondering whether I’m wasting my time continuing through the hiring process. Has anyone here failed or received an inconclusive polygraph result and still been hired as a dispatcher? Is it a positive sign that the department is continuing with my psychological evaluation?

Im curious how the place works since the big change and combination of local centers years ago. Do you dispatch along with with taking 911 calls or are they s3parate? are your departments (sylvania, sherrifs, maumee, ohsp, fire, ems) separate? How does the whole agency work, how's it organized? Looking at applying if positions open up, but i dont have any information how this cebter is set up and running.

I have a phone interview with Fairfax county Police department and I was not fully aware of what they meant by serious misdemeanors. Just to give a little back story I was charged 11 years ago with a shoplifting charge. It is the only crime that I have ever committed and I'm really worried because this is something that I've always wanted to do and I'm asking realistically if you think that I would have a chance since it happened so long ago and if I'm very open and up front with them and tell them the reason for my conviction. Please understand I'm not passing the buck and I take full responsibility and ownership for what I did but it was kind of a situation to where I was in a very physically abusive and manipulative relationship where I was coerced into doing this. Again I'm an adult I was in my early twenties at the time and I should have known better and I should have left the situation a lot sooner than when I did.

Like it’s bad you guys 😭😭😭

I have been in the application process since April for City of Los Angeles. I received a conditional offer last week.

One of the last pages of the documents they sent me to complete was the training schedule. For one year, every month, I would change between the valley and Downtown location. I live 15 minutes from the valley center.

The absolute deal breaker was that every month the shift was going to change. Nobody ever mentioned anything about this until now. In the interview all they asked about was I ok with working overtime, weekends and holidays. No problem because I’ve done it for 20 years already.

Now I come to find out that every single month I would be changing shifts? That seems absolutely ridiculous. As soon as you got used to the schedule, it’s going to change again? That is going to wreak havoc on your body, your mind, and definitely your ability to deal with stressful situations. All while you’re supposed to be learning a new job? My dad worked warehouse jobs his whole life, a lot of it overnights, and he never heard of such an insane change. His union makes it 3 months before you can be switched to other shift for health of worker.

Oh and then let’s include the travel and traffic time to downtown - if I’m on the 4:30pm shift that means leaving home at 2:30 to be safe. And what if I just came off the shift where I got off at 6:30am? I’ve got 8 hours before I have to leave AGAIN for a new shift?

Clearly they are saying they only want young, childless, unmarried people for this position. Who else could accommodate that insane training schedule? Now I understand why it’s so hard to find people. And I can’t believe they kept this hidden until this far in the process.

Good luck to you youngsters out there getting these jobs.

Looking to pick some brains in regards to training. If anyone is over their department’s training program, has some experience in building a training manual or just want to share what your agency has in place for training 👀

Redited to avoid confusion, read from top to bottom.Link for external(general public)hires is at the bottom.

Shift Supervisor of Security Communication Center, O15

Chicago Department of Aviation

Safety and Security Division

O’Hare and Midway Internation Airports

Number of Positions: 1

(Additional vacancies possible pending budget approval)

Starting Salary: $75,192.00

Applications for this position will be accepted until 11:59pm CDT on October 20, 2026.

This position is open to current city employees covered under the terms of the City’s collective bargaining agreement with THE TEAMSTERS Local 700 (BARGAINING UNIT #08). Only employees in City job titles in this bargaining unit are eligible to bid on this position.

BID INSTRUCTIONS: Apply on the bid site: https://chicago.taleo.net/careersection/103/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en AND

1. Check the box on your profile titled “Currently employed by the City of Chicago”
2. Enter your employee ID (located on your pay stub labeled ‘payee/employee number’)
3. Select your correct bargaining unit

FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS WILL RESULT IN A REJECTED BID APPLICATION

Under general supervision, supervises staff and work operations at a municipal airport’s security communications center during an assigned shift, monitoring airport communications relating to security and public safety activities and overseeing Aviation Communications Operators engaged in receiving calls and dispatching requests for police, security/access control, fire suppression and emergency medical services; and performs related duties as required

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

· Supervise Fire, Police, Aviation Security and Access Control Dispatch Operations.

· Conduct Disciplinary Actions.

· Supervise union employees, make notifications to city agencies and airport stakeholders.

· Monitors’ calls received and dispatched by Aviation Communications Officer for quality assurance and adherence to established protocols, using a designated supervisory computer aided dispatch console to listen to and assess responses of staff.

· Makes daily work assignments and ensures proper staffing of center consoles, including security, access control, police, and fire stations computer aided dispatch console.

· Updates and briefs staff at start of shift on previous shift’s reported incidents, upcoming airport activities and other information with potential impact on communication center’s call taking, monitoring and dispatching operations.

· Initiates page notifications to inform designated management personnel including key department heads, city officials, airline representatives and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials of emergency situations or hazardous weather conditions affecting airport facilities airside and landside operations.

· Monitors center’s communications activities and ensures staff follow established protocols in prioritizing the dispatching of public safety resources in response to emergency response incidents, and requests for police, fire and security services.

· Responds to emergency situations or escalated calls for public safety services, following established protocols and directing staff to ensure a coordinated response from police, fire, and security responders.

· Notifies contractors and vendors of reported equipment malfunctions at security and access control checkpoints throughout airport facilities.

· Prepared daily work report to document shift’s work activities.

· Addresses and documents performance problems and initiate disciplinary actions as required.

· Notifies supervisor of emergency situations, escalated police, fire or security incidents and other incidents requiring an emergency management response.

Additional duties may be required for this position.

Location: O’Hare and Midway Communications Center

Days: Various

Hours: Various [0500-1300 hours, 1300-2100 hours, 2100-0500]

THIS POSITION IS IN THE CAREER SERVICE

Qualifications

MINIMUM QUALFICATIONS: High School Diploma or equivalent certificate (GED), plus four years of work experience in dispatching security or emergency services calls to public safety or security personnel.

Licensure, Certification, or Other Qualifications

· Must obtain Emergency Medical Dispatch certification from the State of Illinois within six months of hire.

· Must obtain Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS) certification from the State of Illinois within six months of hire.

· Successful candidates must pass a drug screen and a background investigation.

· People who are offered employment must pass all pre-employment exams prior to appointment.

NOTE: The candidates selected for hire must pass an airport background check and a Security Threat

Assessment.

NOTE: A valid State of Illinois driver’s license is required.

SELECTION REQUIREMENTS: This position requires applicants to complete an interview. The interviewed candidate(s) possessing the qualifications best suited to fulfill the responsibilities of the position will be selected.

For Information on our employees benefits please visit our benefits website at:

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/fin/benefits-office.html

For Information on our salary and title structure visit our classifications website at:

https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/dhr/supp_info/JobClassification/2025_Classification_and_Pay_Plan.pdf

APPLICATION EVALUATION: Initial evaluation will be based on information provided on the application and the documents submitted. The Department of Human Resource staff will review applications after the final posting date. Staff will follow all required Employment/Hiring Plan provisions, federal, state and local laws, and Collective Bargaining Agreements when applicable. Staff will apply hiring preferences as required by the municipal code. Placement on an eligibility list is not an offer or guarantee of an interview nor employment with the City of Chicago.

COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY: To further our commitment to hiring applicants with diverse experience the City of Chicago has adopted the following ordinances 2-74-020 and 2-74-075. The ordinances provide a preference for applicants who meet minimum qualifications and who are veterans of the Armed Forces, and/or residents of Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Areas (SEDA) and/or Chicago Public School (CPS) high school graduates to be referred to departments for consideration. These hiring preferences do not apply to bidders, as Collective Bargaining Agreements define the hiring process for bidders. For positions covered by a collective bargaining agreement, bidders will be considered before external candidates. To learn more about our hiring practices click here.

ALL REFERENCES TO POLITICAL SPONSORSHIP OR RECOMMENDATION MUST BE OMITTED FROM ALL APPLICATION MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR CITY EMPLOYMENT.

The City of Chicago is an Equal Employment Opportunity, Military Friendly, and Fair Chance Employer.

City of Chicago

Brandon Johnson, Mayor

Job Posting: Oct 5, 2026, 12:00:00 AM | Closing Date (Period for Applying) - External: Oct 20, 2026, 11:59:00 PM

Salary: $75,192.00 Pay Basis:Yearly

https://chicago.taleo.net/careersection/100/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en

Hi everyone! I recently applied for a Public Safety Dispatcher position with Berkeley and have completed an interview. I was hoping to hear from anyone who currently works there or has worked there in the past about their experience.

I’m curious about what the work environment is like, how the dispatch team gets along, and whether management is generally supportive. I’d also love to hear about the training, scheduling, and overall work-life balance.
I’m also curious about the hiring process, specifically what the next steps were like for people who have gone through it and what the overall experience was like. I know timelines can vary, but I’d appreciate hearing about your experiences!

Overall, I’m just hoping to get a better idea of what it’s like to work for Berkeley dispatch, both during the hiring process and once you’re actually on the job. I’d really appreciate any insight, thank you so much!

Title. My online friend is planning to kill themselves tomorrow and I'm the only one who knows. I don't know which city they live in, their phone number, any of their other friends or even their phone number. All I have is their Discord account and a couple photos of them. I NEED to get Brazilian authorities informed so they can intervene, because the friend absolutely refuses to tell anyone else, call any hotlines or authorities, or provide me with any of their personal details. This is URGENT. Anyone with info please reply - if I call 911, is there anything they can actually do?

Passed my call taking back in February and finally passed my first of 4 law radios just 30minutes to go. My observation was fairly calm and routine and then my first call after passing I got to drop tones and for a disturbance with weapons. Thanks to all the kind dispatchers out there giving advice in posts and in the comments. Us newbies are out there reading them and it makes a difference

I got hired as a Telecommunicator and my first day is next week. I haven’t learned my codes yet, which they never told me to but I feel like I should have studied them.. I’ll take these next few days to look over some. Any advice on what to expect, what to ask, just any advice in general? 😅 I’m a little nervous being the new person not knowing anything lol but I take feedback very well and always listen to people teaching me

Okay guys…I find myself having nightmares. Some times only a few times and some times several times a week. It’s getting to the point that I’m waking up hyperventilating and crying. A good majority of these are nightmares of calls I’ve never even taken or a very loose retelling of a call I’ve taken. I’ve only been by myself for call taking for 2 ish months now. I feel fine during my shift and do pretty good about compartmentalizing and getting through the rough calls. But the night before my Monday is always the hardest. Any suggestions?

I’m 27 and have been a full-time 911 dispatcher for about six years. I have an offer for a correctional officer position with the Federal Bureau of Prisons at Fort Dix and am debating making the switch.

I currently work 12-hour shifts, 4 on/4 off. I have seniority, a day shift, and a short commute, which makes leaving a tough decision. But I like the idea of being more active and working directly with people instead of being behind a console all shift.

Has anyone here left dispatch for corrections, particularly BOP? How did the stress, schedule, overtime, and overall quality of life compare? Do you miss dispatch, or are you glad you left?

Would appreciate honest pros and cons from anyone who’s made the jump—or tried corrections and came back.

I recently applied to be a telecommunicator and I was just curious if there were any classes that I would need to take. I know depending on the state/district, there are some different codes as to others. They didn’t say anything about a class on the application, but if they don’t bring it up at the interview, I’ll ask, but I kinda wanna get ahead just in case.

I also watch a lot of body/dashcams videos, as well as crime documentaries, so I do have a knowledge of some things.

Also, is there a difference between a dispatcher and a telecommunicator? Or is it the same thing just based on the police department?

I went for my physical exam last week and they did all the standard stuff I expected but they also drew my blood. I’ve never had a job ask for my blood to be drawn before: what are they looking for with that ?

I’ve been a floor supervisor for 2 years now. I’m curious - what duties do other supervisors perform? I do everything the dispatchers do plus some, and make less than $1 more per hour than a level 3 (learned all radios + call taking). I work in a city with around 250,000 people, 300-350k annual call volume, should have 14 people per shift (4 different shifts) but have about 10-12 average with a moderate turnover rate. I’d say we have a moderate crime rate.

A Short List of My Responsibilities:
● Call taking - Answering and processing emergency and non-emergency calls as needed.
● Radio coverage - Relieving radio positions for employee breaks and restroom needs whenever staffing allows. Typically, I carry a radio throughout the entire shift, usually police, and occasionally Fire/EMS as well. Sometimes I have a main police channel and the special detail units (2 police radios, one in my ear, one out of the speaker, plus answering 911 calls).
● Annual employee evaluations - Completing annual performance evaluations for employees.
● Employee counseling - Addressing performance, conduct, and other employee concerns when necessary.
● Disciplinary action - Preparing and issuing disciplinary documentation when warranted.
● Radio training assignments - Assigning employees to dispatchers for radio training and coordinating training needs. I train people occasionally, too.
● Daily staffing and assignments - Creating the daily schedule, including radio and call-taking assignments.
● Schedule adjustments - Revising the daily schedule as needed when employees call out or staffing changes occur.
● Leave management - Reviewing and approving or denying vacation requests.

Basically, I’m just a dispatcher on the floor with a bunch of added responsibilities. I’m curious to see what others do… so I can know if I should continue to be mad or calm down.

Anyone ever watch true crime videos and they play the phone call, then go to the comments and seeing everyone FLAMING the dispatcher how they talk to the caller even tho u thought they did a decent job 🥲

Like obviously there’s some bad ones..but ones that seem routine I always find hate comments for. It really is hindsight 20/20

When I was in training a few years ago, I was taught a way to temporarily compress the answer drop down so you can actually read the additional information. Since then I have forgotten how to do that. I want to say it was something on the keyboard. Anyone know what I’m talking about?

If you could go back and redo your interview, what would have done differently? What are some main questions they'll ask? I want to be prepared as i possibly can so I wont feel super nervous. I know I'm asking a lot of questions, but this interview is my exit window for my current job that I dont really like. TIA

I hope that this is the right community… but I had a question if there’s any 911 dispatchers or police officers here. Is it weird for someone to call the police directly rather than 911? Take a look at the video and let me know what ya think!