I didn't think it would take me this long to post something, but I wanted it pretty fresh in my mind. I wish I had thought of this before Memorial Day because that weekend had a lot of good stories. Trouble is I can't remember them right now. This last weekend however has given me some good material. So hold on, 'cause here we will go....
Let me just tell you for future reference that everytime I go into work, I spray it down with Lysol spray and then use a Clorox wipe to finish it off. I do this not because I am a germ freak, but we eat at the console, put our feet up and whatever else. In our department dispatchers work one at a time, which is different from larger departments like St Pete (my former job) where they have 4 dispatchers on and 2-11 call takers on at one time.
That said, I didn't get to finsish cleaning my console and didn't get my eye glasses on before it was busy. It took me about 30 minutes until I got my glasses on.
My first call was a man that was hystercial and said a guy in a vehicle tried to run him down on the beach. I had one officer go to that and then it happened. All hell broke loose. First the Sgt that was on Sunset Beach asked me to call for a boat because there were reckless wave runner's in the swim zone. That sounds easy enough, but I had to call the Sheriff's office first and they didn't have one, then had to call FWC (Florida Fish and Wildlife) and it takes time.
Right after he asked me to do that he said that there was a fight on the beach and he needed a couple of units. That turned into a couple of more units and call other agencies to send units. There were about 500 people at a rap party and it was getting out of control. I called St Pete Beach and they were just about to send someone when they had a stabbing, so they couldn't come. I had already called PCSO (Pinellas County Sheriff's Office) and requested 2 units so I called back to request 2 more. After all was said and done those units called for more and we had 14 PCSO deputies and 7 of our officers at this event. The fight dissapted on its own and the officer's were able to guide the people out of Sunset Beach without anyone being arrested or hurt.
During this time which was just over an hour I had to monitor the main radio channel and LE1 which is a channel where our officer's and the deputies could communicate on the same frequency. I also had to do my regular stuff, answer the phones, write on my log of things going on and enter information into the computer. And run people and tags if needed. I still had the one officer patrolling the rest of the city. I had a few phone calls telling me how the officer's should be doing their jobs. One man in particular was really annoyed that one of the officers was just filming the crowd and not "doing" enough. He did for documentation purposes to show how big the crowd was and their demeanor. I actually kept my cool for the most part but was very and I mean very firm. I said sir, the officer's are trained to do their job and I trust their judgement. I am not at the scene so I can't determine what is right or wrong and I am not trained like they are and neither are you. He said, "I think..." I cut him off and said sir, everyone has an opinion, let the officers do their job. If you have a problem with how they do their job or you want information as to why they did things the way they did, call the chief of police in the morning. He kept trying to tell me what he thought and I finally beat him down to where he said, alright I'll call the chief. Don't call me when you know there's crap going on and tell me what you think, because I really couldn't give a damn what you think! My main concern is, are my officer's safe and then is the public safe!
More later....
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