Real-Life Communication
A call comes in to the call center at precisely 3:19 in the morning.
The woman on the other end, who calls herself Judy, is absolutely frantic.
Between her moans, yelps and sputtering screams, you manage to find out that
her husband has just been beaten up by a gang of kids.
Since the beating
occurred while she was out, she had no chance to call earlier. She had to
piece together the story from the jumbled, blood-soaked murmuring of her husband,
who was still outside.
"Communicating is my job as a dispatcher," says
dispatcher Linda Olmstead. "The information must be taken accurately, quickly
and concisely. You can't do that without good communications skills."
Here
are the five steps your unit's dispatchers must take when fielding a
call:
- What is the caller's identification and location?
- What is the offense?
- Are there weapons involved?
- What is the current situation?
- Keep the caller on the line!
Information
You find out that the caller's name
is Judy LeBrun. By her account, her husband was beaten up by a gang of young
thugs as he was taking out the trash. Apparently, there were no weapons involved,
apart from the attackers' fists.
Just before you hang up on LeBrun,
you find out that the husband is resting peacefully against a rusty drainpipe
in the backyard. The call came in from 194 Berry Cres.
Using the information
above, determine whether or not you satisfied the five requirements of your
unit's dispatching code.