911

face at any given moment. They need to be able to deal with each particular scenario in a way that brings out critical information from the caller quickly.

When someone calls 911, the dispatcher can see where the call is coming from instantly; the technology is right there. While I was sitting with the operator, a call came in from Leisure World, and I could see it was someone calling from Mutual 2. It turned out to be a misdial, and no one was on the other end of the line. But even that prompted the 911 dispatcher to call the number back to confirm the call was a mistake, just to be sure it wasn’t someone unable to communicate.

However, if the call had been a real emergency, and the caller needed police response, for example, the dispatcher would instantly dispatch a police officer with the touch of a button. It might be a woman threatened by her ex-husband, a domestic dispute ensues, and she calls 911. The operator can see where the call is coming from and immediately sends a police officer to the house. The dispatcher would gather all the important information right away: “Does he have a gun?,” “What is he wearing?,” and so on. This way the officers rolling up to the property know what to expect.

This is dangerous business as we saw in January when an armed man threatening a Seal Beach resident and her children pulled a gun on the police officers.

The officers shot the man, who eventually died from his injuries. Their main concern was the safety of the community. They attempted several times to de-escalate the situation and gain the attacker’s cooperation. They used their stun gun. Finally, after the man pulled a gun out of his pocket, the officers were forced to respond to the threat he presented with lethal force.

It was the important teamwork of the 911 dispatchers that told the officers several relevant facts before they even got to the property. One dispatcher was on the phone with the caller eliciting information. Another dispatcher searched the database for information about that address and the people involved. Another dispatcher pulled up the rap sheet on the people associated with that address to find any outstanding warrants, criminal history, previous calls to the address or other meaningful information.

The great teamwork of the various 911 dispatchers delivered vital facts about that particular situation to the officers before they ever arrived, and they arrived within minutes of the call.

911 dispatchers are highly trained professionals who receive eight to nine months of training and months of orientation to the “operating environments” they cover.

They are calm in the face of urgent emergencies. They are experts at getting panicking callers to calm down and answer questions. They are trained to ask questions in any possible scenario as they keep the caller on the line until help arrives. They listen carefully to the background noises to determine if the situation in still ongoing to inform the police officers as they arrive.

I was amazed at what our 911 dispatchers do every do and how technology helps them keep all of us safe.

They are well trained and some of them have been serving our town for 20-plus years.

They work in tandem with the responding officers in a thousand ways, working for best possible outcome for us and for our brave officers.