People call 911 for a variety of reasons. This isn’t news especially to those of us who work in public safety telecommunications. Just think of the sheer amount of emergencies and police, fire or EMS-related incidents occurring anywhere at any time. Most agencies answer 9-1-1 and non-emergency public safety calls and the myriad of events that precipitate that beep in your ear are infinite. At the same time as the diversity of calls, there is a similarity at the heart of each of these calls. People are looking for something. They are not just calling to give us information or tell us something is happening. They need something from us. It is in this need that the similarities rest. It is in this need that we can remember what our purpose is. It is in this need that we can provide the best customer service and do what we started this job to do—help people.
Instruction
Think about all the ways that our callers are seeking instruction whether it’s direct like being talked step-by-step through CPR or indirect, such as seeking advice on how to deal with a civil situation. Our callers need to know what to do. That is why they are calling. Different people have different abilities to work through certain problems on their own and some problems cannot be handled by non-emergency personnel. People call in so that we can tell them what needs to be done. They need explicit directions. It doesn’t matter if the person doesn’t seem to be listening or is blatantly disregarding what you are saying. They need you. They need you to continue trying to direct the situation and often their behavior from the moment the phone line beeps to the moment you disconnect. Nobody said it was going to be easy talking to people. Nobody said that callers would be rational, coherent and calm in seeking your instruction. In fact, it is most often the opposite. Just remember, we deal with crisis every moment of our work day. We expect it. Callers don’t and many do not handle it well. So, we do what we do best which is giving them the direction that they need while getting them the necessary on-scene help.
Support
Again, most callers are having the worst day of their lives. They are not prepared to handle the type of chaos-ridden, grief-inducing, irrational situation that they find themselves in. You could argue that certain people should expect their circumstances because they have created the environment which caused the issue and it’s happened a dozen times before, but if you haven’t noticed by their words and tone of voice, they are still shocked by it happening. Most calls and callers come through 9-1-1 with little fanfare. In fact, we don’t remember most of them. It’s only the ones that are particularly gruesome, tragic or rude that we can pin-point in the hundreds of calls taken each day throughout a career. All the rest just get filed away. But, what all of the callers need and what we offer is support. Just the pure fact that someone is there to answer their call 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year is support. What other service can say they have that kind of business hours? People know they can call 9-1-1 if they need help. They know we will be there and that we will help them. We are a constant guardian that is only a phone call away. Then when they are on the phone with us, we offer even more support, reassuring them with our tone of confidence and competence that their boots on the ground support is on the way. They called us and we’ve made arrangements to get the help that they need to handle whatever situation they have found themselves in. Even on calls where field personnel do not need to be dispatched, we offer support. We are a reassuring voice in the darkness.
Comfort
Tied closely with support, we also offer comfort. Even the most jaded, cynical, non-people person operator has spent thousands of hours comforting people. A sobbing mother who just found her child dead from SIDS. A citizen who just witnessed a shooting. Even that teenager who had their car broken into while they were somewhere they weren’t supposed to be and are scared of what their parents’ consequences are going to be. We have all had calls like these over and over. We assure them help is on the way. We talk to them and we listen. Again, just the fact that we are there makes the difference. Think of the comfort you provide when the elderly lady who has called many times is calling again because her husband has fallen and she cannot get him up. She just needs someone to come help and she is ashamed that she has to call public safety. Reassurance that we’re here, that it will be okay and that we don’t mind at all, gives her more comfort than you may ever know. I know this because my grandmother expressed how the operator who comforted her just like this made her feel. And in a ripple effect, this operator comforted me as I was assured my grandparents were being taken care of. Then there are those frequent callers who don’t really have an emergency but just need to reach out to someone. I gave the time, the weather or just listened to someone chatter on sharing a view into their altered world. Many of us have.
So no matter what the content of the call or the complexity of the situation, our job is actually simple. We help people.
Michelle Perin
Michelle Perin has been a freelance writer since 2000. In December 2010, she earned her Master’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Indiana State University.
