New Year's

Let's Talk ChiTown 911 makes a valid point. Now that New Year's Eve is, well, today, OEMC is in an uproar about the inevitably higher call volume.

5th Watch calltakers' day off is cancelled, and there are potential cancellations of 1st Watch employees. Of course, 311 will be partly staffed by 911 employees. 3rd Watch employees were mandated to stay overtime on 30December, so what can be expected for 31December? Day-off cancellations, mandatory overtime, mandatory overkill...

It reminds us of the "Y2K" scare. Surely we have readers who remember every seat in the house filled, and an overabundance of PCOs sitting in the roll call room for hours waiting for the world to implode at 0000 hours on 01January2000.

We've handled worse than a rescheduled drunken Bears game (Bulls championships, maybe?). Leave us alone. Please. It would take every employed PCO from all watches, plugged in and logged on after 2200 hours to handle all of the calls at the joke of an efficiency rate the city expects from us.

It ain't happening. We predict no better than 15% answering efficiency for 1st Watch on New Year's Day.

A takeover?

Here's a topic that's been tossed around and rumored about for years, but won't happen in the foreseeable future: The takeover of OEMC by the police department.

For those not in the know, OEMC (or OEC as it was called at the time) was originally a part of the police department. It separated and became its own entity in 1997. Since then, its perceived (obvious?) downward tumble into disarray has inspired many PCOs to kick around the idea of being taken back over by the police department, having sworn sergeants supervise.

We don't see it. For a few reasons.

The police department is short enough on manpower as it is, and is doing its best to cover it up.

OEMC being a section of CPD would mean that any blame that CPD tried to push off on OEMC for calls-gone-wrong, would still fall back on CPD. And they can't give up a separate scapegoat organization.

Clout-heaviness within OEMC.

Loss of "federal" funds.

The redrafting of the organization to encompass all current employees as civilian police department employees, which the city may decide requires new hiring guidelines (including new background checks and drug tests for current employees). Or if that weren't done:

The city would have a major class-action labor lawsuit on its hands if it suddenly phased out unionized PCOI, PCOII, and SPCO positions.

We would have added that such a move would cut down on opportunities for nepotism, but that's laughable - it's still part of the city, and we have plenty of employees whose relatives and spouses are/were sworn officers.

But the bottom line is, that ain't happening, either.

Idiot Call of the Day

Chicago Emergency, XXXXXX.

"Is this 911?"

Yes, it is."

"Can you help me?"

What's the problem?

I don't know how to program my cell phone."

Really. We're not kidding.

We may post more of these. If you have any that tickled you or just flat-out pissed you off, E-mail them to us. If they tickle us or piss us off too, we'll run them on here at later dates.

Poor rack...

We admit that this is old news, but we may have been on furlough for a while. Or we may not have been and just forgot to mention it when we first noticed it.

We won't take credit for it, so we'll say that someone else warned you all about that coat rack in the break room that gets filled to capacity daily:

The coat rack in the break/tv/room! What the hell is up with those who put their claim on the hooks to use as an "unsecured locker"? It looks like SHIT!

Well, now, you've gone and done it. There were two parallel wall-mounted racks, extending about half the width of the break room. Now there's only one. Could it possibly be because so many people were hanging up so many coats and bookbags and makeup bags that you couldn't even see the white plastic? Now there's one rack, and holes in the walls where the second rack used to be.

The rest of that commenter's post smacks of something an early poster would have said (Yeah, we know you still peruse the board, Mr./Mrs. "FBCMW"). But we'll admit that he/she was right. You all didn't have to do that poor rack like that.

Merry Christmas.

Hard to find Chicago Christmas pictures without snow. We almost gave up...but for you, we persevered.

Happy Holidays.

Why the hell do we

Have to ride with CFD on every call? Okay maybe not every call, but more than seem to be necessary. Someone asked that in the comments section, and we think it's a very valid question.

Also, someone who apparently works for CFD (Welcome) left a comment:

WE don't make a request for you unless we force entry, DOA, or someone's being an EXTREME JAGOFF.

Valid point. It's generally not firemen or paramedics who request police to ride with them, it's CFD calltakers. When we get assigned to do zone reliefs and have to spend a portion of the day taking calls, we're surprised (we're sure we're not the only ones) by what the CFD calltaker will ask us to ride with them on. And like someone who's apparently a cop said:

What I'm speaking of is, no fault of yours, is when we get a call of an accidental injury where it's obviously an accidental injury,or meat burning on the stove,etc. and upon arrival the CFD waves us off.

And that's what we're talking about. We understand the forced entry thing, but "I fell in my backyard," and the caller's not being an "extreme jagoff," but we still have to send the police anyway.

That's what we don't understand.

Roll call appearance

We received a visit a couple of weeks ago from "a certain Deputy Superintendent." After the thorough lashing we took from Channel 5 News in November, in which this DS was interviewed & told the public that it's basically our fault for delays in police service, he visited our roll calls and apologized to us. Second City Cop has called out this blog and Let's Talk ChiTown 911 for answers about what the DS said in the roll calls.

We'll need help from our readers, because frankly, we don't recall most of it offhand. We were still appalled by the whole thing, and felt that the visits to roll calls were a matter of backpedalling. We're aware that the media cuts interviews and shows only the parts that are the most controversial in a lot of issues (bastards). But they surely didn't edit what could be seen and heard coming out of his mouth at the same time. And in the last part of the interview shown, it was mentioned that there are "other resources available," if only "dispatchers and supervisors would use them."

We do recall, however, that when the DS appeared in roll calls, blame was placed on the Patrol Division (not in the media, only behind closed doors, but that's a different story). And particularly on supervisors in the field.

We took it as a matter of catering to whomever was being talked to at a particular time, but we digress.

The DS asked us to report to him when units are:

Held down on station assignments out of roll call
Given lunch during a backlog per a sergeant
Held down on details and unavailable for radio assignment (this includes tac/gang)
Logging off of their PDTs before 15 minutes after the hour
Given disregards on assignments per sergeants in order to be on time for checkoff
Doing an assortment of other things that we don't recall

Our supervisors have been holding us to this. The DS actually calls and asks for verification that the Patrol Division is complying with it. Everything we mentioned that keeps us from dispatching jobs, including the station assignments and the details, etc...was responded to with [loosely] "Get approval from a field sergeant." We have been told to get sergeants' names and star numbers (if you notice on the radio, we have to ask for that even for backlog notification). We have also been told that, when a sergeant approves these things, we have to put the unit down on, say, "Lunch in 026 per 2610." We then are to notify our Watch Managers and print copies of these events, with names and stars included, for forwarding to the DS.

And we do recall a comment from the DS that we should put the responsibility on the sergeants, because "that's what they get paid to do."

For the first time in the history of the OEC/OEMC, we were asked by a sworn member to give suggestions on what changes to the dispatch policies (the General Order on "Communications" from which most of our SOPs are derived) need to be made. We have been asked to submit ideas about what works and what doesn't work, and [our opinion] what doesn't work anymore (did it ever?) due to changes over time, and factors such as, oh, the fact that annual call volume is at least 4 times what it was when OEC opened 11 years ago?

The DS is still calling on a daily basis, even to find out that each district faxed all of its lineups (tac/gang and marked units). And we understand that he is personally calling watch commanders to address issues.

We've said a mouthful (handful?), but we said it to say "Don't kill the messenger." Like it or not (we know people form habits and are averse to change, including ourselves). But for all of the comments and such on the radio, or the smart ass remarks like "You need to look at the clock before you dispatch this job to me"?

Tell it to your DS and our supervisors/watch managers. We're only doing what we're told to do. We don't have it in for you.

Okay, a small handful of the 230+ dispatchers do, but those truly are few.

Most of us aren't trying to shit on the cops in the field, and we're not adding to the "Us vs. Them" mentality by choice.

We should also add that

We read the comments section under the post by SCC. One of the suggestions we'd like to add is that no, we shouldn't be made to send the police on non-police matters. There was a time (many years ago before we were turned into a "customer service center") when we were allowed to tell people "No, we're not sending the police because that's not a police matter." And we wouldn't get served with a CI number and a suspension for "failure to provide police service because someone's fries were cold and he/she wanted a refund."

And to that end, we provide this open forum for people (especially PCOs) to weigh in on what other changes need to be made. Procedure-wise, not management-/administration-wise.

Just a friendly reminder

5th Watch furlough picks will be held at 0400 hours.
1st Watch furlough picks will be held at 0600 hours.
4th Watch furlough picks will be held at 0900 hours.
3rd Watch furlough picks will be held at 1100 hours.
2nd Watch furlough picks will be held at 1400 hours.

TODAY'S DATE.
BE THERE.

And don't complain about what you got if you weren't there.

We don't usually talk about politics on here

But maybe we should.

This interview with the mayor in the Sun-Times reminds us of how worse the mayor's belief that he's invincible will become once he's inevitably re-elected yet again.

We won't say much, we'll just politely remind the masses that this is the same mayor who has instructed people-in-charge to keep "us" away from him while he's in the building, because he wants nothing to do with "us." And yet we're sure that many of the coworkers we hear complaining about the mayor, are complaining after having voted for him.

Whose fault is it if you continue to help re-elect a man whose henchmen try to squeeze everything they can out of us? Does the year 2013 mean anything to anyone?

Those trees, and the flower bed medians (like the one in front of the building that block any view of oncoming traffic), sure are pretty though, aren't they?

For all of those who float

For people who don't have regular zones that they work, have you ever noticed that cops from north side districts seem to be more polite, in general? We're not saying they're better cops by any means, we realize that politeness doesn't equate with "good police work." But we have heard from many a dispatcher who works a north side zone and is amazed by the differences in etiquette when working south side zones, and many a dispatcher who works a south side zone and is amazed by the differences in etiquette when working a north side zone.

P.O. shot on duty

A P.O. was shot yesterday in 014, hit in the arm. We're glad that the injury was non-life-threatening. We were afraid that another officer may have been lost in the line of duty.

And since noone else is going to pat us on the back, Kudos to those dispatchers involved on Zone 3. They did us proud.

But we will say this:

There was mention of people sleeping on zones. Doesn't that just piss you off? It surely pisses us off. If there's one thing we can't stand, it's working alone when we're supposed to have partners. If people have to fall asleep on their own watches, then they need to stop working all of those double shifts. Days, Afternoons, Midnights, you name it, any shift you're on, you've seen some people from other shifts so often that you have to wonder if they're now assigned to yours.

Either stop working double shifts and break the overtime up some (we hope that 6 hours you get at home every day includes daily hygiene methods), or stay awake instead of putting extra workload on your coworkers. The job is stressful enough already.

We took a few days off

We had other things to do, sorry. We notice that there's a lot of talk on the last thread about a certain dispatcher. Is it about her drinking? Most of us surely can't talk when it comes to that, we can chug quite a few ourselves.

"Uh, oh"

Seems our advertising campaign is paying off. We understand that a certain administrator addressed a roll call on Monday, and saw one of our business cards lying on a table in the roll call room. We wonder if that person has gotten an eyeful in the last two days (there's a good four months worth of reading, minus our time off), and if the collective voice of the PCOs has been heard and heeded.

Our other blog

We recall a comment from the days before we took an extended leave from blog-making, the days when people were riding us like horses and talking about "This blog=ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ" and about how we must have gotten a promotion or gastric-bypass surgery (har dee har har) so we couldn't (or wouldn't) update anymore.

Anonymous said...
letstalkchitown911.blogspot.com
its a new blog that will be maintained!!!!!!!!!!!

It hasn't been updated in over a week now. Maybe the blogmaster has learned that doing this on a daily basis really isn't easy. Still though, we commend him or her or them for stepping up and trying a hand at it, instead of just sitting idly by and complaining about what we weren't doing (hint hint to all the naysayers).

But seriously, where's the blogmaster of Let's Talk Chi Town 911? We're looking to start a movement, other people should speak up, too.

Security!

The public speaks, and we listen. Or at least we read.

Everyone in the building should be aware by now of the memo from a lieutenant at 311 (he's in charge of the cops who work security at 911) stating that the cops are not to let anyone through the handicapped door. We're also not allowed to go through the "back" door (closest to the west entrance) that none of us ever go through because we all go around and go through the turnstiles per the rules. It has been said that this is to maintain an accurate count of people entering the building.

If there's a headcount to be made, then why don't we have to use our IDs to get out of the building? What about the maintenance people who don't have IDs? What about the people who bunch up at the west door, say, right before roll call, when plenty of employees are entering at the same time? Will we all have to stop holding the door for the people behind us so they can all use their IDs individually to enter the building?

What are the turnstiles for anyway, to stop a stampeding herd of cattle rushing the 911 center? Is there an internal counter on the turnstiles? Does everyone even fit through the turnstiles?

Things could be worse. We could still have "Top Flight Security" like we had 5 years ago, instead of sworn officers. But we'll end that thought with the knowledge that many men in the building had no problem with the little Top Flight Security bunnies who used to "guard" our operation. Nothing more secure than a woman in a fake uniform to stroke that ego. Or stroke other things, as we've heard.

Duty availability

The police department gets paid for "duty availability," and if we're not wrong, it's because they're on call and are mandated to be available if called in to work, unless they're on furlough (any cops reading, feel free to correct us).

Shouldn't we get the same thing? The union might consider that just one simple glance at some statistics (wherever they're kept) would show how many dollars have been spent on mandatory overtime just within the last two or three years, including a couple of cancelled days off here and there (remember the summer system crash?). If we're subject to disciplinary action if we don't stay for mandatory overtime, why don't we get the same duty availability pay? We think we should, but then what do we know.

Hello, NMC? Butch? Anyone?

There's an old police motorcycle in the lobby of the 911 Center. Actually, it's a motor-tricycle, but either way, we have a suggestion.

The thing has been there for about 15 years (exaggeration), and apparently noone thought it would ever require any maintenance to look good or at least functional.

Would someone put some air in the front tire? It's leaning to the side like some gangbanger driving down the street. Maybe we need to call the R-man. We'll even bring a foot pump and volunteer.

Comments and Suggestions

We're going light on the posting for the weekend. Taking a cue from Second City Dick. This section is an open forum for comments and suggestions on the blog itself.

Dispatch policy

We've heard more buzz about getting pulled through the ringer in the last two days than we can shake a stick at. But there are ways to prepare ourselves for the next time police department brass tries to blame us for the long dispatch times due in part to their manpower shortage.

We need to be truly dispatching according to their policy - CPD dictates how we dispatch to their patrol units. If they want no delay in dispatch of high-priority calls (per Deputy Superintendent CW), then focus on those. If they don't want lower-priority calls stacked behind 1A and 1B and 1C calls, then don't, unless the only unit you have up is 99 (can't send them alone on the majority of high-priority calls).

Make sure you keep those red jobs off the board as best as you can. You won't always be able to not "see red," but do what you have to do. If the blue and green (lower-priority) calls have to wait because you're getting killed with in-progresses? So be it.

We'd like to advocate getting anyone's request for service handled in a timely manner, but we know it just can't be done with the low numbers of field units in districts. And there's no better way to make the CPD (brass, not working stiffs)take a step back and stop avoiding the real reason why these calls can't get dispatched according to their policy, than to dispatch according to their policy and still have people complain about wait times, i.e., 3-5 hours for paper because every time we finally clear the board of red jobs (especially in the summer) and get ready to give out some blue and green ones, here come more red ones to put the rest on the backburner again.

Great idea, we think, at least in theory. We just hope our bosses see the logic here and don't breathe down our necks because we have a ton of jobs wayyyyyyyy over the time limit, even though they're low-priority.

Our glass is half full

A quote from Second City Sarge, another police-related blog with whom we now share reciprocal links (look to your left):

...we are averaging about 250 visits a day...thats roughly 10% of what SCC gets in a day. Since Sergeants make up approximately 10% of the ranks we'll take it for now.

We'll take it for now, too. Since we've "returned with a vengeance" (can you tell we like that?), we've been averaging over 150 visits per day. If sergeants make up approximately 10% of a [claimed by the city] 13,000-member police department, that puts them at 1,300. If there are only 400 PCOs, we're making out like bandits.

We updated our Site Meter, and if you scroll to the bottom of the page, you can see that we'll have had 12,000 visitors by the time we reach the 4-month mark (we broke ground on 08August06). Not bad in anyone's book, and certainly not in ours.

We're taking the same cue that Second City Sarge took from Second City Cop. Our business card can be seen near the top of this page, and at the top of this post. You'll see some floating around soon, if you keep your eyes open.

And to the anonymous poster on the "Publicity" thread, we're back to taking care of our business, dahling. Thanks for the positive suggestion (no sarcasm intended).

Is anyone out there good with numbers?

We need some volunteers to look at the YTD Overtime Report and crunch those numbers so it can be pointed out to City Hall how many new PCOs could have been hired and had their benefits paid for with all of the money that was paid out in overtime and helped even some calltakers make six figures for the year.

Should we ask about the big picture again? Nahhhhhhhhhhhh, we've asked too many times already.