Deuchar tells students professionalism is needed in dealing with nuisance calls
CARMEL – Putnam County’s 911 dispatchers were joined by police dispatchers from the Putnam Sheriff’s Office as well as Poughkeepsie and Scarsdale on Tuesday for a day-long seminar taught by one of the leading law enforcement training consultants and emergency services instructors in the northeast.
George Deuchar’s lessons dealt with the handling of non-emergency calls received on 911 phone lines.
“Many times dispatchers receive such calls which tie up phone lines for real emergencies,” Deuchar said. “Our dispatchers must handle those calls in a professional manner while at the same time explaining to the caller that 911 should be used solely for dire emergency situations.”
Putnam 911 dispatcher Heather Fox said the lessons learned were most beneficial: “People don’t understand that by calling 911 to report a lost dog or late mail delivery, they may be preventing a real emergency to be answered immediately by our team.”
Hundreds of ‘nonsense’ calls have been phoned to the county’s 911 center in recent years.
A woman called to report that her favorite pizzeria had delivered the wrong pie. Another caller was upset after she misplaced her car keys.
Commissioner of Emergency Services Ken Clair reminded the public that “911 is for emergencies only. If you need an ambulance. If your house is on fire. If a suspicious person is in your home, call 911. Our dedicated and highly trained dispatchers are here to assist, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, holidays included.”
