Rockland 911 Dispatchers Association

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Emergency voices

By RON X. GUMUCIO 

THE JOURNAL NEWS 

(Original publication: February 2, 2005)

NEW CITY — A mother placed a 911 call from a neighbor's house because she locked herself out while her 2-year-old son was home alone inside. 

"Is the heat on?" Clarkstown police dispatcher Kristy Sanfratello asked the frantic caller one morning late last month. "Is the stove on? We'll send an officer, ma'am." 

Sanfratello dispatched a police officer to the Old Route 304 home. 

"He should be OK, the stove's not on," Sanfratello said. "The mother was panicking a bit. But hopefully, he won't get himself into trouble." 

A few minutes later, the woman called back to tell Sanfratello she was able to get back in through an open window. Sanfratello radioed the officer to inform him that he doesn't have to respond to the home. 

As the morning progressed, dispatchers handled calls about a deer trapped out on the ice on Rockland Lake, a Congers traffic light stuck on green in both directions and a neighborhood power outage. 

Clarkstown police dispatcher Seth Needleman said that while it had been a quiet stretch, things could change in an instant. The job can often entail a series of emergencies like hit-and-run accidents, robberies, and fires that leave families homeless. 

"These are things that can happen anytime," Needleman said during a recent day shift at the Clarkstown police station. "But I enjoy this type of work. While it's a hard job, it's nice to help people in the end." 

The men and women who answer the phones 24 hours a day, seven days a week at police departments throughout the county are mostly civilian dispatchers and usually the first line of communication with the public. They're responsible for dispatching police, fire and emergency service workers at a moment's notice. 

During a recent visit to Rockland Sheriff's Communications at the Fire Training Center in Ramapo, dispatchers Alice Honey and Sandi Bertollacci monitored the switchboard and listened to the 24 county frequencies. 

Since June, all cellular 911 calls made in Rockland, and occasionally those placed in Orange and Westchester counties, are received there, then routed to local police departments. Fire calls are also transferred from the villages and towns. The dispatchers also monitor the Indian Point nuclear power plant, track storms and call in a STAT Flight to airlift a patient to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. 

Information about a missing person, stolen car, burglary and robbery are also disseminated from this station. 

It is also the contact point for the county Health Department and Medical Examiner's Office during off hours. 

Things were relatively quiet this chilly Tuesday morning. 

At 10:44 a.m., sheriff's dispatcher Donald Joachim answered a 911 call from a Ramapo man needing an officer at his home to file a police report. 

"A group of children threatened to vandalize his house," said Joachim, transferring the call to the Ramapo Police Department. "Five years ago, you went to the phone book to find the number for the police department. Now, all you got to do to get the police is dial 911. And in most cases, it's not a true emergency. A lot of the calls are routine." 

Sheriff's Communications Chief Adam Feuer said his dispatchers have fielded countless calls from people who give wrong information because they don't know where they are. And something as simple as having debris on the New York State Thruway or Palisades Interstate Parkway could cause the switchboard to be inundated with 911 calls from motorists. 

"Not only did our call volume increase, but our length of calls tripled," said Feuer, who started out as a dispatcher in 1986 and is an assistant chief with the Stony Point Fire Department. "No two days are alike. But these people are hard-working and do a really good job." 

At 12:15 p.m., Joachim takes an automatic alarm call from the Rockland Home for the Aged in Suffern. 

"Someone burned lunch," Joachim said. 

Back at the Clarkstown police station, Needleman is writing down information a dispatcher on the radio is giving to police officers countywide of a description of two males suspected of robbery in Spring Valley. 

Needleman sent police officers on patrol in Nanuet an e-mail message with the description to a monitor in their squad cars. 

"Nanuet borders Spring Valley," said Needleman, who worked as a dispatcher at sheriff's headquarter for 10 years before transferring to Clarkstown in 1998. "These individuals could live in the area." 

Clarkstown has a computer-animated dispatching system that maps calls on a monitor. A wide-screen monitor in the center of the room tells them where their police officers have been assigned for the day. 

Dispatchers are Civil Service employees and are not part of the police union. While they spend most of their day speaking to one another over the radio, most don't know anything about the other person aside from the sound of their voice. 

To change that, a group of dispatchers has launched the Rockland 911 Dispatchers Association. 

"We want the dispatchers to get to know each other better, recognize their accomplishments and share stories about different incidents," said Joachim, the group's president. "We've found that you're a lot more tolerant of people when you get to know them and are able to put a face behind the voice." 

Since organizing the group in late 2003, 31 dispatchers from the five towns and Sheriff's Department have joined the association. 

"The intent right now is to get us together," said Peter Medina, a Spanish-speaking dispatcher in Ramapo for 10 years. "We want to educate the public with who we are and what we do. People don't always understand that we're the first responders. Before even the police officers get there." 

Most dispatchers say the job is stressful and doesn't pay a lot, but they crave the excitement. While for some it's just a job, others use it as a steppingstone to becoming police officers. Still others, like Joachim, 60, who retired from IBM five years ago, have made it a second career. 

Needleman said he doesn't want to become a police officer. He's content with being a dispatcher and a volunteer firefighter with the Hillcrest Fire Department, regardless of the pressure and demands of the job. 

"Unfortunately, time is of the essence," Needleman said. "If you have five people on line at a grocery store, it doesn't matter how much time it takes for you to help them, you're still going to have those five people waiting. In our job, you can't wait 20 minutes to send an ambulance." 

Emergency call tips

• Give specific and accurate information to a dispatcher.

• Remain calm.

• Call your local police departments' regular phone number when reporting a nonemergency.

• Locking yourself out of a car is not a police matter. Call a locksmith.

• If you're in doubt about whether it's an emergency, dial 911.

Source: Rockland 911 Dispatchers Association

Code key

A sample of the police and fire codes used over the radio by Rockland's dispatchers:

105 — ambulance request.

107 — accident, no injuries.

108 — accident with injuries.

109 — airplane accident.

110 — drowning.

111 — disorderly person.

112 — fight.

114 — domestic argument.

115 — alarm of fire.

116 — hit and run.

123 — missing person.

128 — robbery.

133 — homicide.

134 — suicide.

171 — bomb threat.

200 — may be armed and dangerous.

 

[JBE 328]

Excellent article.