Law Enforcement Specialties >> Communications Center >> Tactical Dispatch Teams
Tactical Dispatch Teams
13 posts back to top |
Posted about 1 year ago Last year I began a project to try and establish a Tactical / Major Incident Dispatch Team at my Agency. The idea being that a select group of dispatchers would be available to assist with and / or respond to any major incident that would need a dedicated dispatcher. This includes major fires or other incidents involving several agencies as well as SWAT operations. I managed to garner the interest of my chain of command to the extent that we started sending personnel to specialized training. I've spent much time researching other teams in the area and have even developed a policy proposal for our team. The problem I am now facing is the fact that it has been almost a year and nothing else has moved forward. Our SWAT personnel are interested as well as our Emergency Management / Fire Marshals office. However, interest from my center has gone by the wayside. The main concern is the fact that the only other agencies in our area who created teams, the teams failed. One agency disbanded their team because the dispatchers no longer wanted to participate because they weren't receiving incentive pay. The other agency's team isn't used because the SWAT team doesn't like the dispatchers on the team. Basically, most of the dispatchers don't want to be a part of something that is not already established and successful, and command doesn't create something that no one is interested. Now where do I go? |
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| Posted 12 months ago Is this something you have already talked to others about in APCO, and NEMA? Your ideas sound good as Disasters are always when things go astray. I have only been doing this 6 1/2 years, and have no where the experience that you do.So I am afraid I can not give any advise, I will leave that to those of you with more experience in this, and to perhaps those on a National level. But to me it sounds like great ideas! |
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| Posted 11 months ago Check with your county and state Emergency Management. They're the ones who handle disasters that cross city and county boundaries. I'd think they'd be the next logical step. My own IDT training (there's one other dispatcher at my agency who also went) was designed around State of FL EOC guidelines. |
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| Posted 11 months ago We have a Tactical Dispatch team. We respond to all the SWAT call-outs, hostage etc. We train with them every month as well. We even go out on major incidents with the fire dept. We've been active about 2 yrs now, took a while for some of the IC's to get on board with the the thoughts of a dispatcher being out on a call-out, but now they love it. |
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| Posted 11 months ago our agency needs help!!! our agency has a tactical disp team, we have gone to trainings , we are certified. the problem we are facing is our agencies are not calling us out , they are not utilizing our team. we have 4 different agencies that we dispatch for (pd and yso). we need suggestions and help on how to get passed this barrier and wall between us and Lt's and Sgt's. help!!!! |
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| Posted 10 months ago Just as an update, I have finally begun to make progress. I made a point of attending a meeting with the Team Leaders for our SWAT team. I brought with me all of my proposal information and a laptop for demonstration purposes. Once I was able to talk to them, face to face, and express not only our ability but our willingness to support them in their operations, they were really interested. I brought this back to my chain of command and they told me to keep moving forward. I also talked about the meeting with several of the seasoned dispatchers and now I have three more people who want to go to training. Thanks to all of you who have offered your suggestions. |
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| Posted 9 months ago Congrats cjs911 ! I am in the process of starting a team at our agency. We are getting ready to order our toughbooks and put out a request for resume's for those interested in being on the team. We are starting out with 7 people. I have written SOP's and training waiting to go. I am trying to capture the process on http://tacdispatch.blogspot.com/ and will open the Blog to all the team members as a place to talk openly or post ideas as we move through the process. Good luck with the process, Tim |
