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OFFICER DOWN! |
| Words that strike at the heart of a whole community.
On New Year's Eve, 2007, a Great Bend Police Officer was shot in
the line of duty. Back to work now, New Year's Day was an
anxious time as citizens turned questions into rumor as stories
of the event spread. Once the story was release in the
Great Bend Tribune over the next few days, the facts were in and
the questions were answered. For most citizens, it was an
event they were glad was over. |
| But what about the officer and the others that were there
that night? And the man that was shot and his family?
All common concerns. The persons involved that rarely
thought of are the dispatchers. |
| At approximately 0426 hours that night, Communications
Officer Vicki Smith took a call. A subject had been ran
over on 24th Street in Great Bend. Smith gathered the
needed information and dispatched two police units. While
at the scene, the officers learned the name of the suspect.
With an address of where he, the suspect, might be, the officers
responded to the home. |
| At the second location, the suspect exited the rear of the
residence and began firing a shotgun. An officer was hit. |
| Smith, with more than 10 years of experience, was working
with two other dispatchers that night. One, who had been
employed for about a year - the other, a trainee with one
month's experience. |
| In the first hour of the event, the dispatchers - under
Smith's guidance - completed 59 phone calls. They answered
52 radio transmissions. |
| At the same time, the routine work continued. The
calls were logged. Officers were passed needed
information. The public was protected. |
| While Barton County does not have these types of incidents
often, there is no training that can prepare a dispatcher fully
for these and other emergency calls. One cannot know the nature
of an incoming 911 call. Nor can they know the outcome of
a call as it is being handled. Because of the nature of
the job, a good dispatcher must have maturity, learn to stay calm, handle
multiple tasks at once and to prioritize. Training and
experience - along with a commitment to public safety and
maturity - are key when dispatching. |
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