Faulkner
Member
I learned very early in my LE career that a good radio dispatcher for first responders is worth their weight in gold. Overall we have a good dispatch team but we have several that are just outstanding at their job. They are always calm and professional and seem to anticipate what the officer is going to need and is ready with the information when they ask for it. It's like a calling to the really good ones.
One of the really good ones at our department, Nancy, is a joy to work with. She's in her early 30's and her father was a deputy sheriff back in the day and she used to watch ADAM-12 and EMERGENCY reruns with her dad. She said she was always fascinated by the dispatchers on the TV shows, and although it's kind of humorous at times, her dispatch style is the spitting image of the one on ADAM-12. It's actually kind of soothing listening to her.
So, the other day Nancy is on duty and she contacts me on the radio in her ADAM-12 dispatcher voice.
"Unit 4, Unit 4, see the woman, unknown trouble, 17 West Ridge Road."
Now I'm all about professionalism with radio traffic, in fact, it's one of my pet peeves. But, we also sometimes have an informality within limits.
I answered back, "Unit 4 to S.O., I'm in route to 17 Ridge Road. ETA 10 minutes."
"10-4 Unit 4."
A "unknown trouble" call covers a lot of ground on what to expect. I have no doubt, if there was an expectation of any type of hazard to me Nancy would have said so on the radio. Calls like this are usually generated by someone calling in and saying "I need a deputy, can you send one out." Although the dispatchers try to pry out more information from the callers, sometimes that's all you get. In those cases you just have to be prepared for the unexpected, it's what makes the job different every day.
I timed the travel time to the address and I arrived just a hair over 9 minutes. As I pull into the driveway I make my radio call, "Unit 4 to S.O., I'm on the scene."
"10-4 Unit 4, time out 14:36"
I scope out the area before I exit my patrol car, noticed a swing set in the front yard, SUV in the drive and the double car garage door is up but it's full of stuff so no car will fit in. I see a small pink bicycle in the garage and one of those small plastic cars that toddlers ride in next to the drive, so there are some small children potentially around.
When I get out a lady steps out on the front porch and waves.
"Hello ma'am, I'm Deputy Faulkner, did you call the sheriff's office?"
"Yes, yes, thank GOD you got here so fast."
"Okay, what seems to be the problem ma'am." I asked.
"My daughter is 5 and she was out playing and came running in the house screaming and said there was a snake."
Oh great, I thought, my first snake call this spring.
"Did she tell you where she saw it?"
"Yeah, she was about to get into her plastic car over there and she saw it there. I went out and looked and it slithered under it. I think it's still there."
It's just a fact of life that as more and more city folk move out into the country they run across all kinds of wildlife, including snakes, that they've never encountered before and just don't have the raising on how to deal with them. It' requires a degree of patience by the officer.
"Ma'am, any idea on what kind it is? What color or how big it is?"
"Deputy Faulkner, look, as far as I'm concerned it was real big, real mean, brown or black or blue and double poisonous."
About this time Nancy calls me on the radio checking in on me. "S.O. to Unit 4, 10-50?" It just means "are you alright?"
"Unit 4 to S.O., negative 10-50. Snake call, I'll be busy for a few minutes."
Okay, back to business. I walk over towards the little car and walking around it I don't see anything. I back up a few steeps and kneel down so I can see under it and still don't see anything. I pull out my ASP baton, flip it out, and reach over and tap on the little car a few times and see what might flush out. Nothing.
As the lady is standing on the front porch watching me with her arms crossed, I went back to my patrol car and opened the trunk, found a length of nylon rope with a carabiner already tied to one end. I went back to the little car and found a spot to attach the carabiner and slowly raised up one side so I could see underneath and low and behold, there the little booger was up on the chassis of that little car. It wasn't huge, but it was a nice sized mature copperhead.
The lady saw it and gasped. "Is it poisonous?"
"Well, yes ma'am," I answered. "Their bite can be painful but is very rarely fatal to humans, but I certainly wouldn't want one of my young ones to bitten by one."
I asked her if they had a 5 gallon bucket around and she said there were several in the garage I could use, so I found a bucket and got the copperhead herded into the bucket. At her request I disposed of it with a garden hoe.
Afterwards I wrote up a report and had the nice lady sign it, and next to her signature on the report she wrote, "Deputy Faulkner is my hero!"
One of the really good ones at our department, Nancy, is a joy to work with. She's in her early 30's and her father was a deputy sheriff back in the day and she used to watch ADAM-12 and EMERGENCY reruns with her dad. She said she was always fascinated by the dispatchers on the TV shows, and although it's kind of humorous at times, her dispatch style is the spitting image of the one on ADAM-12. It's actually kind of soothing listening to her.
So, the other day Nancy is on duty and she contacts me on the radio in her ADAM-12 dispatcher voice.
"Unit 4, Unit 4, see the woman, unknown trouble, 17 West Ridge Road."
Now I'm all about professionalism with radio traffic, in fact, it's one of my pet peeves. But, we also sometimes have an informality within limits.
I answered back, "Unit 4 to S.O., I'm in route to 17 Ridge Road. ETA 10 minutes."
"10-4 Unit 4."
A "unknown trouble" call covers a lot of ground on what to expect. I have no doubt, if there was an expectation of any type of hazard to me Nancy would have said so on the radio. Calls like this are usually generated by someone calling in and saying "I need a deputy, can you send one out." Although the dispatchers try to pry out more information from the callers, sometimes that's all you get. In those cases you just have to be prepared for the unexpected, it's what makes the job different every day.
I timed the travel time to the address and I arrived just a hair over 9 minutes. As I pull into the driveway I make my radio call, "Unit 4 to S.O., I'm on the scene."
"10-4 Unit 4, time out 14:36"
I scope out the area before I exit my patrol car, noticed a swing set in the front yard, SUV in the drive and the double car garage door is up but it's full of stuff so no car will fit in. I see a small pink bicycle in the garage and one of those small plastic cars that toddlers ride in next to the drive, so there are some small children potentially around.
When I get out a lady steps out on the front porch and waves.
"Hello ma'am, I'm Deputy Faulkner, did you call the sheriff's office?"
"Yes, yes, thank GOD you got here so fast."
"Okay, what seems to be the problem ma'am." I asked.
"My daughter is 5 and she was out playing and came running in the house screaming and said there was a snake."
Oh great, I thought, my first snake call this spring.
"Did she tell you where she saw it?"
"Yeah, she was about to get into her plastic car over there and she saw it there. I went out and looked and it slithered under it. I think it's still there."
It's just a fact of life that as more and more city folk move out into the country they run across all kinds of wildlife, including snakes, that they've never encountered before and just don't have the raising on how to deal with them. It' requires a degree of patience by the officer.
"Ma'am, any idea on what kind it is? What color or how big it is?"
"Deputy Faulkner, look, as far as I'm concerned it was real big, real mean, brown or black or blue and double poisonous."
About this time Nancy calls me on the radio checking in on me. "S.O. to Unit 4, 10-50?" It just means "are you alright?"
"Unit 4 to S.O., negative 10-50. Snake call, I'll be busy for a few minutes."
Okay, back to business. I walk over towards the little car and walking around it I don't see anything. I back up a few steeps and kneel down so I can see under it and still don't see anything. I pull out my ASP baton, flip it out, and reach over and tap on the little car a few times and see what might flush out. Nothing.
As the lady is standing on the front porch watching me with her arms crossed, I went back to my patrol car and opened the trunk, found a length of nylon rope with a carabiner already tied to one end. I went back to the little car and found a spot to attach the carabiner and slowly raised up one side so I could see underneath and low and behold, there the little booger was up on the chassis of that little car. It wasn't huge, but it was a nice sized mature copperhead.
The lady saw it and gasped. "Is it poisonous?"
"Well, yes ma'am," I answered. "Their bite can be painful but is very rarely fatal to humans, but I certainly wouldn't want one of my young ones to bitten by one."
I asked her if they had a 5 gallon bucket around and she said there were several in the garage I could use, so I found a bucket and got the copperhead herded into the bucket. At her request I disposed of it with a garden hoe.
Afterwards I wrote up a report and had the nice lady sign it, and next to her signature on the report she wrote, "Deputy Faulkner is my hero!"
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