“Plant City Police Department – Operator 575. This line is recorded. How may I help you?”
This is the daily response Jessica Alexander gives when answering 9-1-1 calls in Plant City.
She is a staff member of the Plant City Police Department Communications Center – dispatching first responders to the scene of emergencies. It’s a task where she and her coworkers have to expect the unexpected, especially when there is an increase in the number of phone lines to answer.
“We have a pretty high call volume,” Alexander explained.
Those calls can range from 800 to 900 a day.The most that they receive are related to domestic abuse, followed by traffic accidents, noted Alexander.
“Calls have been picking up alot lately,” she added. “The past couple of months have just been really, really busy.”
Alexander stated that during the holiday season, there tends to be a rise in suicides, theft, and fatal car accidents.
She also dispels any notion that because Plant City is a small town, dispatchers have a light workload.
At her station, Alexander is equipped with five monitors and several keyboards with multiple functions.
Based on calls, each incident is listed, documented, and constantly updated as new information comes in.
And there is a radio to relay that information to officers or fire rescue.
Alexander and her team check criminal records and warrants for a suspect with the help of the Florida Crime Information Center and the National Crime Information Center.
“They are the eyes and ears of the supervisors with what’s going on in the street,” said Captain Al Van Duyne of the Plant City Police Department. “They try to think proactively, and they think from a safety standpoint.”
He noted that he has always felt reassured that the dispatchers would give him the right information at the right time.
A ringdown phone system is used to immediately contact Hillsborough County agencies such as the sheriff’s office, Tampa International Airport and MacDill Air Force Base.
If a missing person is in danger, the dispatcher may call for cross-county help.
“If it’s an AMBER Alert, we’ll enter them and call the Florida Highway Patrol,” Alexander explained. “They actually put out the AMBER Alert for us. We don’t put it out ourselves.”
Florida is divided into different regions for AMBER Alerts. Plant City belongs to Region 3 which consists of Hillsborough, Pinellas, Citrus, Hernando, Hardee, Polk and Pasco counties.
“Once we put it in that system,” Alexander said, “it goes out to everyone in our region.”
If there’s a reason to believe that the missing person is outside that region, the AMBER Alert can then be expanded into other regions.
The police department uses color-coded maps, dividing Plant City into nine zones – each designated to its own officers on duty.
Although the communications center does not have GPS tracking police vehicles, it can pinpoint in which zone the incoming call is located.
That in turn, helps to dispatch the officer assigned to that zone, cutting the arrival time to the scene.
In some cases, a caller may be right by the scene but can’t tell the dispatcher exactly where they are located.
The communications center has implemented and updated a mapping system that helps locate an exact address.
Dispatchers are also equipped with the RapidSOS technology, which uses the closest WiFi router to determine where the caller is located.
It is protocol for Plant City officers to respond to incidents within the nine zones. As an agreement with Hillsborough County, Plant City can assist outside, and within close proximity, to its zones.
The Plant City Police Department and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office each have their own jurisdictions that they oversee in Plant City. Where an incident takes place in town will determine who is dispatched to the scene.
In the situation where all phone lines are in use, all other calls will be automatically sent to the sheriff’s office – irrespective of the jurisdiction.
As dispatchers, they are required to immediately shift job duties. One moment they can be going through paperwork, and within a matter of seconds they’ve become someone’s therapist, trying to put them at ease over the line.
“I will say ‘I need you to calm down so I can get you help,’” Alexander explained. “You’ll hear people try and calm down to get you the information that you need to get officers out there or get medical assistance out there.”
In some instances, callers will get frustrated when they feel they’re being asked too many questions during an emergency. Alexander said that she has to reassure the callers that the details will help first responders know what to expect and what resources will be needed.
It’s also common for the callers to ask many questions – especially medical advice. To better assist the person on the other line, dispatchers have to be trained in CPR and as an emergency medical dispatcher (EMD).
However, the communications center doesn’t always receive pleas for urgent matters.
“We get a lot of calls, but they’re not always emergency calls or service calls,” Alexander stated. “You have to prioritize.”
Dispatchers have to make a judgement call as to what constitutes an emergency and what needs to be addressed immediately – especially when responding to multiple phone lines.
Sometimes people will dial 9-1-1 if they spot an individual who is dancing or talking to themself at the side of the road.
Sometimes people will call in with statements or general questions.
Dispatchers working together is also a key component in successfully getting the job done. One may redirect their caller to the other so they can respond to the next incoming call.
In some instances, a non-English speaker will call in and there’s a language barrier. If one dispatcher cannot speak that language but another dispatcher can, that line is redirected.
The communications center also has access to a service that provides translators over the phone.
In addition to taking 9-1-1 calls, dispatchers also go through paperwork, retrieve recorded calls for the state attorney’s office, and pull reports for the sergeants and captains.
A headset is used to help multitask simultaneously.
“When we’re taking calls, we also have to hear everything going on around us,” Alexander said. “We call it active listening. That’s one big thing that we try and teach when we train.”
Kiley St. John is one trainee who has been easing her way into the dispatch duties. The 20-year-old said that the first several weeks of training were stressful.
“It comes with time,” she said. “It’s been a process to figure out how to do it, but I’ve learned, and they’ve helped me along the way.”
The Plant City Elks Lodge #1727 names the employee of the year for the police department during its annual holiday ceremony. December of last year, the lodge broke from tradition. Instead of naming one individual, they recognized the whole communications center for their diligent work.
It’s an accolade that is fitting for the heroes that work behind the scenes.
For information on becoming a dispatcher, contact the Plant City Police Department at (813) 757-9200. or visit www.PlantCityGov.com/Jobs.