Time for the tidbit: Our agency, once a year, recognizes employees from every department/division within the agency, sworn and non-sworn. The Commander of our communications bureau was awarded the Employee of the Year for ComCen. Yes, you read that correctly. He was nominated (not sure by who) and chosen as Employee of the Year for the Communications Center.
Let's see, what does the Commander do for communications? Two years ago he doubled our work stations in the same size dispatch center, forcing us to work almost elbow-to-elbow. He has helped to hire additional people so that our overtime has been greatly reduced. hhmmm... what else?
He isn't tied to a work station by an umbilical cord, aka headset/radioset. He leaves his office whenever he wants. Takes vacations and long weekends whenever he wants. Gets all the holidays off.
Most importantly, he doesn't answer calls coming in by the hundreds every day into the dispatch center. He doesn't handle the front line of dealing with trauma and drama phone calls. He doesn't sit at the radio and try to manage 20 or 70 officers and their needs and get out calls for service in a timely manner.
He doesn't deal with the daily responsibilities and stresses of dispatch. He is an officer, a member of the brass, assigned to the communications center. He will promote. He will be reassigned to other departments within the police department. He isn't limited like dispatchers are.
So how does this make him an employee of dispatch much less the employee of the year?
