Editorial: Unseen first responders

Tuesday, July 18, 2006 | 7:30 a.m.

Those of us who believe we have stressful jobs should spend a day at MetroComm, the 911 call and dispatch center operated by Metro Police. The 130 dispatchers handle nearly 10,000 calls a day, seven days a week.

Las Vegas Sun reporter Abigail Goldman wrote about the dispatchers in Monday's paper. Since reading her report, we have a much increased appreciation for the nature of their work.

"You can't imagine some of the sounds that come through the phone," one dispatcher told Goldman. "We hear things that you shouldn't have to listen to."

Real-time sounds of a crime in progress or a tragic accident, with a frantic victim pleading for help, would panic many of us. The dispatchers, however, must stay poised while they elicit the information they need. They must remain calm and collected through all of these calls, throughout their regular and mandatory overtime hours, and while "scanning three screens, talking on two phones and patching out radio commands with a foot pedal."

During the fiscal year that ended June 30, MetroComm received 3,560,092 calls. There are openings for another 60 dispatchers, but with retirements and training classes that have high drop-out rates, it has been impossible to fill all 190 positions.

We all automatically envision firefighters, police officers and paramedics when we think of first responders. We should add the images of 911 dispatchers, too. Each day they are earning their place in that group.