Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Bum Shiners.

I have to admit it, I am a Bum Shiner.
Not by choice mind you but by virtue that I am incapable of front line duties anymore because of medical reasons that I won't go into as it may reveal my true identity.
Do I miss the streets?
Yes, and also no.
Yes, I miss the adrenalin rush of the chase. The camaraderie.
No, I don't miss the same shit, different day jobs I used to get sent to. I used to wonder when attending such jobs, why am I here dealing with this? Are our call takers just mindless robots that create an incident from every call that comes in?
I used to hear "Its really stressful in control room." To be honest I thought "Bollocks."
Now, having had the experience of both sides of the coin, do you know what?
It is bollocks!
I'll concede that it can be tense when a big jobs on the go but trust me, the sharp end is beyond the comprehension of many that have never set foot beyond control.
I deal with a lot of the SSDD jobs that I used to on the streets from the safety of my padded chair, taking some comfort that if I'm doing this via the phone then at least it ain't goin down to the troops.
The thing that stresses dispatchers out? The amount of jobs on their screen. How many can they allocate to the troops so that it shrinks and they can read their paper. All because they are mindful of their performance figures. If its busy then so be it. Deal with it. Getting in a tizz, or worse, cursing PC Bloggs (no not you Bloggs) for being out of service on paperwork is not the answer.
To my fellow bloggers that do me the honour of reading my tripe, I salute those of you that are still out there battling. I've been there and unlike some others in the warm, air conditioned comfort that is the control room, I haven't forgotten nor will I forget what its like out there and I'll do my best to wipe out some of the unbelievable crap that crosses my screens before it should ever reach you.
Pass me another cushion, my arse has gone to sleep.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good post mate,

Can you just lean over to the bloke next to you & clip him. The phrases,

“On your way in can you just fix up a quick job”? Or “Are you busy”? & let’s not forget the demonic “I’ve only got one air of hands” should be re classed as offensive & banned.

Oh how we used to plot in the small hours about driving down to the communication room & kidnapping certain helpful communicators.

But I admire your honesty & your philosophy too. Just don’t let the double time ruin you.

Ps can you also tell those that have never been outside, that on the map a mile is really longer than a thumbs width.

Anonymous said...

cheers brother,

how about "tw*ts in a hat". i've met a few of them. & if I see Lee Evans he's comin in for deception.

Big Pleb said...

Franky,
like the Blog - Twats in a Hat luckily I dont have these idiots on my shift I just have to work with them on overlaps. You sound like one of the good ones in comms. Any chance you can poke some of the others who dont know the patch and f*ck off at change over without handing on the important jobs and where exactly officers are.
Mind you one of the lads on shift had a ride along and was slamming the comms operators not knowing that the lass sat in the back worked in the force control room!!
I laughed endlessly when he told me.
Franky youre a star.

Granny, Im not stalking you, you just seem to be in every blog.

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