Patched

Why are we having to be patched with APPD? I heard the dispatcher has to take breaks and why they are on the breaks we are patched. This is stupid we never had this problem before. I for one am tired of having to wait for this little agency to get done with their oral disertation everytime they clear a call. If your going to clear a call they way they do why don't you just type a report. Do they not know they can type their own CAD notes? Hell they don't even run their own information on their MCT.
We are ten times the daily patrol size of them, fifty times the amount of employees, and yet we have a quarter of the radio traffic. Can they not put them on another channel. I did hear they tried to put them on SPD channel, but they were smart and told ADMIN to get them off. Enough is enough get them off our channel.

I agree 100% this is getting old.. I like the idea of being able to be patched but come on dump them already.

Sometimes we try to 'cheat' this patch issue in dispatch by putting north and APPD channel on multisel instead. What this means is that we can hear both channels simultaneously, but the two channels can't hear each other and don't know they're patched. The only problem is, if they both happen to call at once we're kinda screwed. Also, we have to remember to manually hit the transmit icon over the appropriate agency channel rather than use our foot pedals or anything else, or we transmit on both channels at once. We usually do this if someone just has to get up and run to the bathroom or something for a minute or two. I'm not sure all squads do it this way, but mine does.

Believe me APPD didn't even want to go to Central Dispatch. Remember who's Sheriff pushed for it. It might of helped if APPD had gotten some type of training on how things are supposed to be done with Central Dispacth. They didn't receive any training at all and got thrown to the wolves. Besides, not everyone at the PD does what you're accusing them of, there's only a few. I've heard plenty of Deputies doing the same thing. There's always a few in every bunch. Just remember, we didn't want to even go to Central Dispatch in the first place, let alone share a channel.

That APPD for ya. They never wanted it so they are going to pout for years. If they keep going the way they are going in another 6 months to a year we will be doing their job since they cant seem to get it together anyway. You wont have to worry about them at all then.

We're all supposed to be on the same team. Why don't you try to support the PD a little more and help them get through these bad times instead of smashing them. When it comes down to it, we all do the same job. Grow UP!

Agreed. NONE of us were thrilled with this consolidation, but we have to live with it. We're doing the best we can with it, and we're all in the same boat.

With everyone calling in and using air time. The day will come when some one will call for help over the air and Dispatch will not get it because they were covered by a unit going 10-6 at a who cares place. This is a safety issue will it take one of us getting hurt for you to change or is this a power trip. :!:

With everyone calling in and using air time. The day will come when some one will call for help over the air and Dispatch will not get it because they were covered by a unit going 10-6 at a who cares place. This is a safety issue will it take one of us getting hurt for you to change or is this a power trip. :!:

....Not worrying so much if dispatch can hear vs. my fellow officers. 10-6 here and blah-blah there, and clear for 40 now? ...Please?????? come on 'folks'..... My Gawd, there is more chatter about useless sh*t than there is ANY relevant transmissions. It kills me. And it is TOTALLY counter-productive.

Listen to agencies outside of Highlands. Short- to the point- and professional. Got a problem or something that needs discussion or a strategic approach? GO TO A TAC CHANNEL. If not- log your 43 on the MDT and do your thing. Without all the useless air time. :roll:

[BadgeBear]

The problem here is that when the Sheriff decided to take over APPD she didn’t have enough channels for everybody... and now she doesn't have enough dispatchers to cover all the channels and the MANDITORY 30 min breaks! Then on top of that the PD still hasn't gotten "proper" training on how to use the smartcops system so who’s fault is this really??? I like Susan, I think her heart is in the right place, but the resources that are required to do what she's trying to do just aren’t there! She should have waited to do this for another 2-3 years, and trained the PD on the SmartCops system BEFORE switching them over to it! Mistakes have been made all over the board here and let’s not forget about the CITY COUNCIL pushing for consolidation to "save money" when they are spending about $20,000 a year more to have the Sheriff run it for them!

[MyOpinionMatters]

Trust me dispatch hates patching, especially APPD with North Channel. The busiest channel should not have the extra hassle of another channel on top of it. Dispatch complains all the time about this patching policy, we used to patch on SPD but they had that changed so then we started patching on South channel and again that was stopped. The "upper" powers, who are never on the radio, need to let the dispatchers and road supervisors determine who is patched and where to. I don't see why, if a dispatcher has to take a break, North and South aren't patched for that short time and then that leaves the PD channels to themselves. At least this way, you'd have the same agency with the same policies, working together with less confusion.

And, to pick at the MANDATORY break nonsense...that is all it is, nonsense. I don't understand why we are mandated to get up and leave our stations for 30 minutes.

I see it like this...you guys work 12 hours, in your cars with no break from the road or driver’s seat; we "watch over" you and work 12 hours with you. I personally don't want to leave "my" units to another dispatcher who hasn't been monitoring you all night. I have your information from battery complaints, to missing juveniles, to the crazies on the corner, to barking dogs...my job is to remember for you and if I have to leave then I don't get to do my job properly or accurately.

Come on Sheriff this is a easy fix. Please fix the problem.