Owensboro Police Department has been hosting its citizens police academy for years now, and the program has been highly successful throughout its duration, officials say. This 12-week program is currently underway, with 20 residents finishing up their second class last week.
Residents attend the citizens academy to learn the ins and outs of police work, where they get the opportunity to participate in ride-alongs with officers, learn how to handle and shoot firearms and hear real 911 calls among many other things. Most Thursdays, classes are held from 6-9 p.m. at OPD.
The most recent class focused on 911 emergency dispatch, taught by 911 Director Paul Nave. Nave, a national and state award-winner for his behind-the-scenes work in emergency dispatch, introduced the class to emergency dispatch by, first, laying the educational foundation of what dispatch is, what it does and how it works and, second, allowing the class to hear previously recorded phone calls that have been made to Owensboro-Daviess County dispatch.
These phone calls were not for the faint of heart, but showcased the jobs of emergency dispatch employees. Phone calls ranged from barely audible victims suffering from heart attacks, to panicked witnesses at the scene of a car accident, to active burglary scenarios. One call revealed the unfolding of a burglary where a victim called 911 from the inside of a closet, where she’d been hiding, as a burglar broke into her home and found her inside the closet speaking to dispatch.
“That call is exactly why I’ve been pushing so hard for Text 911,” Nave said afterward. “And we were the first in the state to get it.”
Text 911 would have allowed the victim to be silent as she reached out for help, Nave said, adding that the victim survived an assault and the man was arrested by law enforcement within four minutes of the call being made.
These types of calls were not aired during the class to scare those in the citizens academy, but to give them close proximity to the stressful situations employees in emergency dispatch come across. Call takers are separate from those who work in dispatch, Nave said, and it’s the call takers’ job to calm the nerves and assess the situation of individuals on the phone line, then to transfer their call to the next person in line efficiently and directly.
Some situations require police presence immediately, while others require a direct presence from fire and ambulance. It’s up to those in emergency dispatch to know where to take the call next as they continue consoling the victim on the other line.
Nave said those in emergency dispatch undergo five weeks of training in Richmond before they are certified for their positions.
“No one wakes up and thinks, ‘Today’s the day I’m going to call 911,’ but you don’t know that,” he said. “People are often hysterical when they call 911. Our job is to calm that person down so we can get information and try to get them help. There’s times the caller doesn’t give us information, or they lie because they don’t want the police there. And out of 170,000 calls, 88 percent are through cell phones, which can’t be traced. Once we have that address, we’re good to go.”
High emotions can make getting an address difficult, Nave said, and language barriers also play a role in the hardships endured by dispatch.
Nave can employee up to 27 full-time and eight part-time employees, but he says he’s currently down six full-time and four part-time employees, making things more difficult for his staff as they work 24/7, year-round, to provide emergency care for the 100,000-plus people that live in Daviess County.
Some days are much busier than others, he said, but, overall, things stay pretty steady in the 911 center. From 2011 to 2018, Owensboro-Daviess County Central Dispatch saw the most CAD (computer-aided dispatch) numbers in 2014, with a total of 129,255 local calls made.
“The CAD numbers fluctuate from 2011-2018. If we have a lot of storms that year, CAD numbers go way up,” he said.
Nave said he replaces his employees’ equipment every four years, no questions asked. Not everyone across the state does that, but Nave said he requires consistent updates on the technology used in dispatch because it’s not worth taking the risk.
It’s an expensive endeavor — each individual desk in the 911 center is equipped with $75,000 worth of equipment, including stand-to-sit desks and a $2,000 computer chair that provides lumbar support for those taking and dispatching calls.
“We can’t risk something breaking down on a 911 call,” he said. “That’s my thing. [The four-year replacements] have been Board and City-approved.”
Nave said he is currently working with commissioners on an ordinance that requires each residence to provide address numbers that can be seen from the road by emergency responders. There are a number of houses, especially in the county, he said, that don’t currently provide address numbers that are visible to responders, making for some very time-consuming rescue attempts.
