Fear Factor

It is February. Call volume is down as it generally is at this time of the year and theoretically it’s the time of the year for operations floor employees to slow down, take a breather from the holidays and regroup before it gets busy again as the weather warms up. The lull before the storm, as the saying goes. Except that there is no lull this year and there hasn’t been for the past several years. The lighter workload hasn’t translated into more downtime, more relaxed employees, or better morale. Instead it has brought new elements to oemc: fear and to a lesser extent, instability.

At the very lowest levels (pcos)this fear permeates the oemc and results from the lack of leadership on the 4th floor and in the corner offices. This is because the suits have resorted to dealing with any issues on the operations floor by overreacting (attempts to curtail furloughs extensions, canceling rdos around certain events/holidays etc.)and by imposing heavy handed discipline in response to any citizen complaints--without regard to the contract, due process, facts, circumstances, or a pcos work history. This is the result of being governed by political hacks without, in most cases, even the most fundamental knowledge or the understanding of communications and the day to day operations within oemc.

The fear manifests itself in a myriad of ways. Fear that one can or will lose his or her job for not sending the police on every call, even when something is not a police matter. Fear that questioning a caller too much will result in a complaint from a juiced up citizen and lead to discipline. Fear that calling in sick one day too often will result in a few days suspension. Fear that ones time due will be denied, or that a rule that was interpreted one way last week will suddenly be another way this week. In short, pcos are often afraid. In certain circumstances, fear may be a good way to operate in the short term--fear can sometimes impose a grudging respect upon the fearful, but in the long term it wears down morale, sends inconsistent messages as to whether the city follows its OWN policies and procedures, stifles creativity/flexibility/innovation, and fosters negative attitudes toward all aspects of the job. In terms of the job, the end result is that pcos have lost all discretion as to what types of calls should be processed and what calls should be redirected or dismissed as non police/cfd matters. That means, dear reader, that even prank calls, calls that are likely bogus, and children playing are processed by calltakers and dispatched by the pcoIIs. In terms of the working environment, this fear leads to lowered morale, increased divisions within the ranks, and unfavorable perceptions of management--perceptions which may never be overcome.

The instability within the oemce results from the transient nature of the suits, the petty little turf wars, and the meddling into day to day operations by outsiders. Suits who expect to use oemc as a launchpad to bigger and better (maybe) gigs; suits who use the pcos and operations floor as their pawns for political payback of their rivals (it happens); and interference from city hall or the 4th floor into things like day off group assignments, details, or watch selections. Perhaps its a sign of how dated Blogmaster really is but there was a day--in the not too distant past--where these things were not issues and when operations were comprised of a tight knit professional civilian group who knew their jobs very well. And their bosses knew they knew it too. And those bosses appreciated it. No longer. Welcome to the 21st century.