Queenie,
I just started reading this thread, and ran across this. My eyes are teared up. God Bless your mother, and you!
I started my LE career in a Sheriff's Dept in Northern CA...one of the first things we did was do 3 shifts in the Communications Room, watching/listening to what the dispatchers did. Wow. It is NOT easy, for so many aspects.
Then, as a rookie out those first few weeks with a training officer - I was a little intimidated by making call outs on the radio - knowing all of the County could hear me (Sheriff's Office and even the public listening on scanners, LOL...which I had friends that I knew listened. Not what a rookie wants to do, make a mistake on the radio! And then of course, if one screwed up, you might here the others "miking" on flubs.)
A few comments about dispatchers and them being your life lines, oftentimes literally. It is a HORRIBLE HORRIBLE feeling when dispatch is trying to contact an officer in the field, and there isn't a response right away...then several seconds, maybe up to a minute, and a few times, longer. We in the field are also listening, waiting for that one unit to respond...the dispatcher having to repeat the call, all with a calm demeanor...the silence can be deafening...but we can start responding towards that unit, trying to "do something" and yet the dispatcher sits in a room and has to just wait and pray for a quick reply. It is stressful!
Now, the really *smart* officers (LOL) know that you don't want to upset/anger a dispatcher. Yes, they can make or break your shift, hahahahaha. Those aren't just always stories, they really can! Treat them with respect, and don't get pi**y with them over the radio, where every word and tone you use can make a difference.
Lastly, again in my early years, I had to work an 18 hour shift in the middle of a wildfire that was up in the No CA mountains of our county. Honestly, that was one of my scariest nights of my life. During the night, going up mountain dirt roads (nothing more than some of the fire line breaks) in a valley area where the side of the mountain across from me was on fire and I'm driving AWAY from my coworkers and resources, and I was given a piece of paper by the fire dept to "take a left where you see a big boulder" to get to the next little road I needed (trying to get to a small population of about 50 people out in the wilderness to get them to evacuate)...I lost radio signal in that valley. That is the first time in my life I can say I totally felt alone. If that fire switches directions, there was no one to radio to tell me, we didn't have street signs up on those makeshift dirt roads, no one could help me...and I couldn't tell anyone if I had a problem (flat tire, whatever!) ....I was out there, found my little group of people, helped them start packing up necessities, still trying periodically to find a radio signal. It was about 5 hours in pure darkness where I finally found a high spot and got signal back to the office...........my point in telling this, was I have never been SO happy to hear her voice, and you can tell she was just as happy to hear me. A true bond from that day forward.
I NEVER take dispatch for granted...one day in heaven (I hope on my part, ha!), I need to go find your mom and thank her for her service. I'm so glad to hear her department recognized her properly. Does my heart good
And Queenie, THANK YOU for all the photos in this thread. I know it takes time, but I very much appreciate seeing the 2 officers and everything surrounding them.
DD