Photo: Provided by Yreka Police Department Facebook Page
Originally Published By: Yreka Police Department Facebook Page
“Do you know the difference between 9-1-1, 4-1-1, 2-1-1 or 8-1-1? How about who to call for road conditions or (most recently) fire or emergency updates?
County wide our dispatch centers are dealing with more calls than you can imagine. They range from emergency calls to frequent calls from people who just like to talk. A few of our Comm Centers have dispatchers that often work alone or shorthanded. The person answering the phone is often the same person fielding 3-4 other calls at the same time, all the while talking on the radio to multiple units.
You are probably thinking “why don’t you hire more people?” Funny you would think that… not funny “ha ha” but funny “odd”. Public Safety Communications Dispatchers are required to be POST certified. We have had to go through a background investigation, criminal history, fingerprinting, and physical fitness screening. Dispatchers are not secretaries for their centers, they are the conductors of chaos. Hiring dispatchers has been difficult in recent years. Dispatchers must be able to many things at once while maintaining officer safety, manage logistics, and all with a smile (not always but we DO try ). Our days (and nights) are tough, but we all chose the job and most days, love it still. Dispatchers must be able to gather information quickly and pass it along to responding units. Sometimes the “rush” is misunderstood by the callers because you don’t feel heard or validated. You ARE heard and we DO value you. We are trying to get resources to you and every caller as quick as possible. It has been said that your worse moment is our every moment. We experience your pain, worry, anger, and every other emotion you evoke during your call and every call we take. We then rush to the next call or caller.
“All this information is to help you understand the person answering your calls when you call 9-1-1 and ask the conditions of the Siskiyou’s during winter or why is there smoke in the air during fire season. Our dispatchers are happy to help as they can but remember they had to put an emergency on hold to take your call. ALL incoming calls are treated as an emergency until otherwise proven.
IN CASE YOU WONDERED:
9-1-1 is for EMERGENCIES ONLY
4-1-1 is for phone number information
2-1-1 is for local community services (currently used by Siskiyou County Officer of Emergency Services
8-1-1 is call BEFORE you dig PPL/ PGE
Yreka Police Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/YrekaPD/#!/
Road Conditions: (800)427-7623 or https://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/ OR https://www.tripcheck.com/
Phone numbers: https://www.google.com/ OR https://www.whitepages.com/
OES 211 info: https://www.211disasterupdate.com/mckinney-fire-siskiyou
Local news: https://www.facebook.com/YrekaNews
https://www.siskiyou.news/…
Major incidents: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/?state=5
Fire info or evacuation updates: https://community.zonehaven.com/?latlon=41.75484808945859,-122.84841048746591&z=10.11282095979228”
