PoliceLink

Well I assume you have more phone lines then 911 coming into your center that a family member can call up on.  So that's a poor excuse for them to use.

We do not allow cell phones on in the center unless they are on airplane mode and cannot send/receive calls and texts.  If not then they are to be left in their locker.  You can check it on your break.

Violation of this policy follows the same progressive discipine as anything else.

We're allowed to use ours, as long as it doesn't interfere with what we're SUPPOSED to be doing. If you're still effectively taking calls and dispatching and your validations and whatnot are taken care of, then its not a big deal.

Although, should someone's productivity start slipping because of it, action would have to be taken. I mean...people's lives depend on us sometimes. That's not something to mess around with.

BOSSLADY1 says ...

THE USE OF CELLPHONES IN A COMM CTR BY THEIR DISPATCHERS IS A WASTE OF COMM CTR'S TIME. THEY DO GET IN THE WAY OF THE OTHER MILLION THINGS WE HAVE TO DO IN THE CENTER! DISPATCHERS FIND THAT THEY DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO DO DAILY TASKS AND CELLS DISTRACT SOMETIMES EVEN THE BEST DISPATCHERS. THERE IS NOTHING MORE ANNOYING THAN TO BE TEACHING SOMEONE THE ROPES AND THEY GRAB FOR THEIR CELLPHONE BECAUSE ANOTHER ONE OF THE THOUSAND TEXTS IS COMING THRU.  IT IS WRITTEN IN OUR POLICY THAT THEY (CELLPHONES) MAY NOT BE USED WHILE ON DUTY BUT THE POLICY HASN'T HELD IN THE DISIPLINE SO FAR, WHEN "HIGHER-UPS" FINALLY DECIDE TO ENFORCE POLICY IT WILL BE ROUGH ON EVERYBODY BECAUSE WE'VE LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT FOR SO LONG...

 

 

I have to disagree with you on this one, Bosslady (although partially, I do agree that when you are TRAINING somebody it is a pain in the backside, bordering on an insult because we feel they are not paying us attention).  My center is not a big center, so although we do get our butts kicked from time to time, we do have long periods of inactivity (now that I said that we won't be slow all nite) and I have no issue with them doing something to pass the time (12 hours can be a long tme to sit in one place). To me its no different than someone reading a book, surfing the net, (etc).

We have no written policy, as of yet, that is being worked on as we speak, since we have split from the Sheriff's Office we really haven't had any kind of SOP's, and never really did that pertained just to Communications, so we have been operating as we "always have" so to speak until the SOP developed by the Emergency Mgmt Director and our Comm Ctr Director is finalized....

Why not go to work to work and leave your cell phone in your locker or vehicle. Cell phones have given people an over inflated sense of importance. No call or text message is that important. Home emergency they can call your work number. I agree with MsVanDien.

I don't think that cell phones should be banned, but I do believe they should be used with discretion.

I use my phone at work. However, I do not use my phone when I am on a call, taking a call, or while anyone is in the room, etc.

We did some in-house training a few weeks ago and one of our Dispatchers was texting the entire time. However, she does that while she's working too. She's constantly on her phone while she's working and we know that she gives out information, but we can't prove it. There are people like this that make everything hard on others who use their phones with respect and discretion.

If we didn't have our phones, the internet, or tv...it would be painfully long hours, because we are not a busy department. Most people have enough common sense to know when using their phone is appropriate, but as I said, those who don't make everyone else look bad.

As far as not allowing cell phones because they can not be recorded...talk about invasion of privacy! LOL