Wailing sirens, flashing lights and the familiar line “License and registration?” often encompass the idea of police work, but, without a team of specialists behind the scenes, none of their work would be possible.
These specialists are the dispatchers, who not only assist the Concordia Police Department (CPD) but also the entire first responder force of Cloud County.
I had the chance to sit with two CPD dispatchers, Ashley Smith and Kinlee Hanson, on Saturday, April 11, where I witnessed how much this specialized role acts as the glue and gap filler for local first responders.
Multiple CPD staffers told me, “They’re the most important; they’re our lifeline,” which seemed true as I witnessed Hanson and Smith handle emergencies throughout the evening. At multiple times, one dispatcher would be providing information to a police officer on a traffic stop while the other was informing local EMS about a medical emergency.
Beyond the job's myriad multitasking requirements, Smith and Hanson told me that yes, tragic calls, often called severe calls, are difficult for any dispatcher, but they both understand the importance of helping a neighbor in need.
“You realize that you have to get someone out, that you're the one who has to get someone out in order to help,” Hanson said. “So, your body sort of realizes that in order for me to do my job, I have to be calm.”
Throughout that Saturday evening shift, I had a front-row seat to the dedicated work the pair of dispatchers regularly handle, from run-of-the-mill traffic stops to medical emergencies. The CPD has two work stations within the downtown building, with each dispatcher having four computer monitors to work off.
It was mesmerizing watching the pair work with the multiple screens. I've been a photographer for a while and always drool over a multi-monitor system, but after seeing it right in front of me, I think the max I could work with would be two.
At the beginning of the shift, all officers working that evening made sure to give a “hello” to Hanson and Smith either in person at the station or through the radio.
The officer roster that pairs with Smith and Hanson's shift includes CPD Sergeant RJ Robinson and officers Tristan Kearn and Phil Sudduth. Cloud County Sheriff's Deputy Kyle Newville also appeared at the station to say “hello” as he began his shift.
Once the officers and deputy left the station, I began my line of questioning before the many calls came in.
A burning question that I asked first, which I believe most would have the same, is how dispatchers recover from a severe call. Smith took a moment to think but then said that she's learned the importance of not swallowing up her emotions about these severe calls.
“You could go from a tragic call and then you have to go onto the next one like that call doesn't exist when the next call comes in,” Smith said. “You have to reset… but you also have to be good about processing, processing that call yourself.”
Before I could learn more about Smith, one officer called out to the dispatchers with just a number, which represented a tag call. Smith quickly switched on her headset mid-conversation with a “Ten-Four” and waited for the officer to read out the tag. Amusingly, the pair often raced to get to the call first, but since Smith wore the special headset while Hanson allowed her radio to go to a speaker for my own benefit, Smith often beat Hanson to the microphone.
After a bit more information for the officer, Smith turned right back around and continued telling me about her childhood and how she became a dispatcher.
Smith's career has spanned two years at the CPD, while Hanson joined the CPD last June but arrived with some experience from her work with Republic County a few years prior. Both dispatchers were raised in the North Central Kansas area, where Smith attended high school at Clay Center while Hanson attended Concordia High School (CHS).
Smith found herself in Concordia for school at Cloud County Community College, while Hanson said she remained in the area for myriad reasons after high school.
The pair told me that it takes about six months of training for the dispatcher position and that it's critical to handling the job effectively one day. I commented about the pair's multitasking abilities, since it only took a small chime for both dispatchers to turn back to their computer setups even deep in conversation.
Noticing both to be women, and that most times I visited the station I only saw women dispatchers, I decided to ask, “Do you think women tend to be better at multitasking?” Which, with both dispatchers being mothers to young children, they nodded in agreement. Smith said that the male dispatchers do an outstanding job anyway, but she and her fellow female dispatchers have a “natural advantage.”
I only got to see more of their multitasking capabilities throughout the night, where one moment, we'd all be chatting, and the next, a call for disorderly teenagers at City Park would snag their attention back to the screens.
That call for disorderly teenagers rang over the administration lines, which are non-emergency, and Smith began her line of questioning for the caller. These are quite similar to the basic questions I have in my head during interviews, which include who, what, where and when, but not so much the “why?” question I would add, since that's often up to the courts to decide rather than local first responders.
Hanson mentioned the importance of these questions while Smith took the call and told me that during an emergency, their questions are critical.
“We know the correct questions to ask, but if you call an officer because you know them, they don't know the questions that we ask,” Hanson said. “There's stuff that we need to put in there, so when the officers tell us, we're always going to ask, 'Where is it? Who is it? What's going on?' and they don't necessarily know all of that.”
On this topic, Hanson and Smith both spoke about the options that residents have when contacting dispatch. In an example, Hanson pulled up her smartphone, began a new message to 911, and typed in “TEST.” Over on Smith's screen, Hanson's number showed in a text box with the rest of the dispatching software alongside her message that said “TEST.”
Residents can contact emergency lines through text and even request to have a video call with the dispatchers to show them the ongoing emergency.
“For the public, do not test it like we have tonight, it does work,” Smith said.
After she finished stating that, she also spoke to false 911 calls and how they disrupt service for the entire county and encouraged parents to educate their children about what calling 911 means and the appropriate time to call for emergency services.
Much of the shift remained quiet until about 9:30 p.m., when the emergency lines lit up from multiple reports of a disorderly person at the local airport park on the south edge of town. The dispatchers sent all officers on shift to the scene, while Deputy Newville remained on standby.
The officers spoke with the disorderly person, and no arrest was made. At the beginning of the encounter, the officers checked in with dispatchers and Smith or Hanson would routinely check in with them as well.
Once the airport park call came in, a wave of calls followed. At 9:45 p.m., Hanson took a report of lost dogs in town, and 5 minutes later Smith was providing information to an officer about a warrant. At 10:20 p.m., I witnessed the process of a medical call when Concordia EMS took a patient from a local assisted living facility to North Central Kansas Medical Center.
Smith said that dispatch will call the Concordia Fire Department (CFD) with detailed information first and then send the call over the emergency alarms.
According to CPD Chief Brent Gering, the CPD handled 2,317 calls throughout April, with about 300 of those being 911 emergency calls. At that rate, dispatchers will process about 25,000 total calls per year, with about 3,600 911 calls every year.
I witnessed the intensity at which these dispatchers worked while they also remained calm through various emergency calls. I saw the meaning behind the officers' words when they said, “They're our lifeline,” because, after this experience I'd assume that most within first responder work couldn't imagine doing it without dispatchers.
Thank you again to the Concordia Police Department for providing your services to all of Cloud County and for the inside view I got to see and share.
