Employee parking revisited
A couple of posts down, we mentioned that a dispatcher had called for a squad car to come write tickets on cars parked in front of the building at roll call time on a day when the parking lot was busting at the seams. Someone apparently representing as said PCO has seen the post (and the comments that followed) and posted in kind. We present the reply here:
anonymous said:Comments will be closely monitored, and any mention by full name, and any threat, will be deleted. But we know you're all mature enough to not resort to such.
Seems like I have created a monster. My intention was to ask that management keep the tow zone clear of cars for the sole purpose of safety at our work place. I never ever thought that the cars parked there last Thursday were employee's vehicles. I did not look at windshields I assumed that the cars were from the Palace or from Johnny's Icehouse. I reported the parking problem to the security guard who didn't care, then to a supervisor, who didn't care and then to a watch manager, who didn't care. This angered me and I went to zone 13 and asked that a beat car come out. Good intentions but poor judgement since I can see that the only person this issuse was bothering was me. I am sorry for any inconvenience that this caused my co-workers and I promise to curb any thought of taking on an issue by myself in the future. The fact remains that I sometimes feel that if you want something done you have to do it yourself but in this case I have led a lot of people to believe that it was done on purpose against them personally. Nothing could be further from the truth. Believe what you will, you are all entitled to your opinions but I am writing this so you know the story and maybe come to a different conclusion.
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posted by CPDDispatch @ 12:05 AM
17 Comments:
Off comment. I want to thank the calltaker my wife spoke to yesterday. After stating she wanted a car to make out a missing report, staing her husband was a police officer and there were special circumstances to the missing, the anal retentive call taker told her we would have to make the report in the station. When I went into thee station I told the desk guy that I needed the report and told him 911 sent me into the station. I'm glad it wasn't only me, but the P.O., Sgt, and the watch commander thought the call taker was a full blown moron. I am a Police Officer and the call taker was told this, including the circumstances. Were you to lazy to type a few lines and send it to the zone. I know a copper can blow off a job, but he won't do it when it's another P.O. Since when did EMOC start hiring the retarted. Please Ms. Call taker identify yourself by name so I can return the favor.
To 9:19 am. Sorry PO that your were inconvenienced, really, but oemc employees have rules governing who gets cars dispatched and who doesnt. And unlike some agencies, our bosses are very liberal with discipline when a deviatiion in such rules occurs, up to and including time off just for good measure. And as a po, i would think that you would understand the inflexible nature of the bureacracy we operate in and not blame a civilian for following CPDS own prescribed rules (CPD actually sets the parameters for types of incidents which will get dispatched). If you were unhappy with the CT you had several options:
--go to the station yourselves (which i gather you did)
--speak to an OEMC supervisor to "override" the CT decision and deviate from policy
--call the district station directly and ask THEM to dispatch a car (it happens more often than you think)
-wave down an on duty PO while on routine patrol and have them handle it "onview"
Please dont blame the ct for following the orders. If you had been the PO assigned to that job, especially in a busy district, you would likely be calling the CT a moron for TAKING the call and SENDING it to dispatch.
And professional courtesy is to be considered to a point. I know of NO pos who are going to risk discipline when their OEMC civilian staff needs something from CPD. And just so you know CT are REQUIRED to use their surnames when answering calls and to provide their names again if callers ask. Insist on it
Good luck and i hope you dont need to call again anytime soon.
As a dispatcher/call-taker, if upon answering a call, the person on the other end of the phone says "I'm an ODPO.... I need....blah blah blah", I will then ask for your name, star number & what district or unit you work in ...to verify you are Chicago PD. No matter how minor you problem is, I will type the event and it will get sent electronically to the appropriate zone for dispatch. I will not get in the way of 'helping your own"! I would guess the idiot call-taker that handled your wife's call has him/her self called 911 for service and stated "I'm a call-taker , I need .....blah...blah...blah. We (OEMC) do this very same thing...ie extend courtesy to one of our own!
And.. fyi...you can still make a formal/informal complaint.....just call & ask for a supervisor! Good luck , and be safe when you're working.
Whoever took that call from your wife was just plain lazy. If it would have been some ghetto piece of trash demanding the police for the same thing it would have been sent. I see police being sent on many calls that are mandatory arp or supposed to be handled in the station simply because "caller demanded to see the police". So probably since your wife was calm, courteous, polite and didn't speak ebonics she was told to go into the station.
You did not say, but I hope everything is okay.
Your "special circumstances" may not have warranted the deviation from policy of missing person report for an adult. Yes, in most cases there should be professional courtesy for officers .. but call takers hear "my husband/wife/uncle/family member is the police" all day long. My spouse is the police and I do not expect that to get me any favors.
and to 951 - it's laziness to insist to a caller to go to the station versus giving up explaining our policy and sending the job over? I think you have it backwards.
0919
Dear PO and family,
So sorry you got the runaround. We should have made a ticket and sent it. I am only assuming that the "special circumstances" was something outside of the normal, an illness on some level. Therefore warranted an officer to be sent, and if I was correct and it was illness the ticket was to be upgraded to a 1A priority, and not because you're the police, but due to policy. Secondly if you did get me, I would send the police if you had lost your sunglasses, just out of courtesy and returning the favor for all the times it was extended to me, whipping down a sidestreet, rolling through a stop sign or two. ps I have slowed down a bit
Hope all worked out well in your real life there and thank you for the job you do everyday and your family that takes care of you. Peace.
I'm wondering why if you're a police officer, why didn't you make the call instead of your wife? This way if you're given what you perceive to be the runaround, you could ask for a supervisor and explain the situation to him. Just curious.
from the Honorable Star blog:
...Even though these procedures do make perfect sense at least to us but we just understand the simple basics. Apparently things do not work this way at OEMC and their private parking lot is said to be in a chaotic disorder? Illegally parked vehicles in handicapped spots, vehicles belonging to non-employees/outsiders in the lot, vehicles parked near front and rear door entrances on the street within the marked tow zones, cars blasting threw at high rates of speed and on and on. Security is regulated by 311 Alternate Response. From what the Dispatcher has said there was complete disinterest in the matter. Then again they also related it to a violator in a tow zone and an alleged security matter, then flipped and apologized for the acceptance after the unsettling of the unk. kindred bloggers. We have news for you, at least for you few Dispatchers and blog clickers. 311 should not be burdened with this issue unfortunately they are and they also have their hands full. Next time hit the ball and join a real team instead of whining over basic common sense. Yeah, yeah, we know you need to belong to fit in, how unfortunate.
To 12:37.
I did not make the call because I was checking every possible place trying to locate the missing. I was doing what my police training taught me to do. I left my wife to make the call so I could try to locate the missing. I did not make the call until we had exhausted almost all possible leads. My family should have treated with some respect. Being a police officer, did the call taker think we were making the report just to screw up a beat guys lunch. I know the parameters and that was why the call was made. Next time this call taker should use their head. I've seen beat cars sent to a call because some 8 year old doesn't want to listen to mom. But I'm told to go into the station.
And you wonder why I wrote the initial blog.
Adding to my above post, I am not knocking 99 per cent of the people working at OEMC. Just one person who blew me off. Most of you are fantastic and have gone above and beyond most of the time. I caught 2 offenders while off duty and the dispatcher insited keeping me on the phone until a car arrived. All I hope is the call taker that took the call recognizes themselves and does the right thing the next time. I treat the people from OEMC as one of our own, all I ask is that the one person I am talking about do the same. Not everything we do is in black and white. Sometimes we use the gray areas when we are doing our job.
"I did not make the call because I was checking every possible place trying to locate the missing".
Hey, easy, I'm on your side, remember, I was just curious that's all. You never said any of this in your first post. I've been disrespected before from not only call takers but by our very own men in blue,yep, hard to believe, but true.
I would suggest in the future, call for a supervisor, or call the station itself.
Again, I'm on your side,I've been dissed also. Keep in mind, most of our dispatchers are good people,they've saved my arse plenty of times.
why do some people on second watch thing there cars are so special that they have to take up two parking spaces when they park. If my new car can get scratched there's can too and soon will
Off topic - What's going on with the controversy over the pco1's and pco2's who went to 2nd Watch, and the people who filed grievances?? I heard Our Union PULLED those grievances, and told management that they didnt have to move those 2nd watch people back to their original watches after all??!! Any truth to that? Any comments?
It is in the CO book that all but three have reverted back to where they were. The three that were left were supposedly errors in the management selections...go figure...
It amazes me that the error in management seclections happened to the SAME person two years in a row giving her the opportunity to pick her furough with third watch and then move to days and take it in the summer when she could not get that good a furlough there.
Also...what is with the pregnant one on days demanding that she only work a zone and not call take and she can only do this and only do that. If she is SO delicate in her "condition" then she should be under a doctors care and on total bed rest.
Get with the program...you signed a little piece of paper that says any shift and doing whatever management wants you to do...guess that only applies to some people!!!
1213
Yes its true, no grievences for those senior pco's who followed the rules and have higher seniority.
mk NEEDS to be fired already.She is going to cost the city and oec loads of money with lawsuits.
What happened to seniority counting for something. It seems lately it doesn't count for anything. All you have to do is get a doctors note and you can have whatever you want!!!
And apparently one of our very own pco2's screwed all of us, when management created this new "rule" that Personnel will only take an ORIGINAL Dr's note, when this pco2 started handing in copies of the same exact dr's note and all she did was change the date on it!! How F*&^%$N STUPID are you ????? Now the rest of us have to go through the hassle of contacting the Dr and depending on circumstances, actually make an extra trip to the Dr's office just to pick up an original note!!?? What BS! Thanks a lot pco2 YC !!!
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