So I am now out of FTO. Today was my first day on the regular shift and wow was it an experience.
I was in a control tower opening and closing doors for our roving officers who were taking care of the inmates in the pods.
My days of FTO were a pair of fun filled days as well. Last week there was a confrontation in a pod in which the whole pod was refusing to lockdown. I thought we were going to go hands on with them to force a lockdown which would have gone sour real fast. I fed our max security pod lunch without incident however when preparing to feed the high security pod I was greeted by a flow of water off the second tier balcony coming from a cell. That's right, they decided to flood their pod with toilet water. Why? Because they wanted to be fed. Nice job idiots, now you don't get fed till the water is all cleaned up. They had just finished cleaning up after someone broke a fire sprinkler off in a cell which flooded the pod too.
Now that I'm off my FTO time I should have a few more noteworthy occurances to talk about.
Will Cuff 10-7
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Monday, July 06, 2009
Day One
So today was day one of my career as a corrections officer. I was with Human Resources for most of the day during which we filled out our paperwork for insurance and life benefits. Then we went over policies for discrimination and sexual harassment.
We discussed customer service (sucktomer curvis as I call it) due to the fact that there were employees for other departments in the orientation with me. I laughed during it because they were talking about how your attitude effects people's thoughts and feelings and that a bad attitude would make someone not want to return. I saw the humor because WHO WANTS TO GO TO JAIL? I had to explain why I was laughing breifly to the instructor who didn't quite see my side of things.
During the sexual harassment portion I texted with my mother (who is a detective if you didn't already know) stating that I was getting sexual harassment training. She responded saying that after the class I should be able to sexually harass people professionally. I responded saying I didn't realize I had been doing it wrong. I must admit, I live in a family with twisted humor.
Tomorrow I get to return to the wonderful people in HR for risk management, blood born pathogens and a driving test. Wish me luck tomorrow.
Will-Cuff 10-7
We discussed customer service (sucktomer curvis as I call it) due to the fact that there were employees for other departments in the orientation with me. I laughed during it because they were talking about how your attitude effects people's thoughts and feelings and that a bad attitude would make someone not want to return. I saw the humor because WHO WANTS TO GO TO JAIL? I had to explain why I was laughing breifly to the instructor who didn't quite see my side of things.
During the sexual harassment portion I texted with my mother (who is a detective if you didn't already know) stating that I was getting sexual harassment training. She responded saying that after the class I should be able to sexually harass people professionally. I responded saying I didn't realize I had been doing it wrong. I must admit, I live in a family with twisted humor.
Tomorrow I get to return to the wonderful people in HR for risk management, blood born pathogens and a driving test. Wish me luck tomorrow.
Will-Cuff 10-7
Thursday, July 02, 2009
I'm Back!
Ok so after a long hiatus after quitting dispatching I am now starting as a corrections officer. My first day is this Monday which will be spent with HR (yay...) followed by Tuesday with the same people. The rest of that week will be with my FTO. I am way excited. I hope you all have missed me and I'm proud to say that I'm back!
Will-Tone 10-7
Will-Tone 10-7
Friday, August 01, 2008
Union
In response to Dispatcher and Her Officer's comment on my last post I will update the situation and again break my rule (Seems to be becoming a habit for me).
I attended the meeting with my boss about my write-up bringing along the union president to watch my back during the nastiness that was soon to begin. The first question he ask about the write-up was "Is this a write-up because it's not in his personnel file at city hall" Her response was about how it wasn't a write-up just a signed paper that we had a verbal discussion. The rest of the meeting was her re-pounding on how I should be paying attention to our channel and not having Desert Agency's channel un-muted. My union president sat back and let her go. After finishing the discussion on my issue she then ask if she could bring some things up and stated two of which would be official write-ups.
I have now been written-up for "leaving my post without permission" and "delaying the response time of officers and failing to gather information." I will explain a bit on each but right now I'm looking at a disciplinary meeting and two days suspension with-out pay for one of the two. The second one about delaying response and gathering information I am guilty of. What dispatcher hasn't sent the officer to the wrong address by accident? Also what dispatcher hasn't forgotten to ask for the description of the person the officers are looking for? It just so happens that both of those hit me on the same call. Now the first one is getting it's own paragraph to explain the events that unfolded that night.
Our dispatch center is a small center and we keep a minimum of two dispatchers working at all times. This night there were three of us working due to it being a weekend. I received a call from Larger Agency about a 911 call they had received on a male in the desert that had been shot. The caller called on a cell phone which displayed the GPS coordinates of the caller's cell phone. Larger Agency gave me the coordinates and said they had their officers in the area looking for the injured male. I began an online search on the coordinates to see if it was within our jurisdiction and was unable to get a good location. I then remembered I had a handheld GPS that I keep in my car for emergencies. I retrieved my GPS and plugged in the coordinates to find that sure enough it was our baby and he was in our town. I then contacted the shift supervisor to notify them of the call and situation. I then ask the shift supervisor if he would be OK with me leaving the dispatch center with an officer to attempt to locate the male. Our officers don't have GPS systems or devices. He told me to clear it with my supervisor and I acknowledged. Before I could pick up the phone to call he told me that if there was an officer in the building to go with him. I understood this as a go ahead an go. I left with the officer to meet everyone else and try to find the male. We searched thoroughly to find him with no success. After I returned to the dispatch center I sent out the e-mail notification that goes to the admins' cell phones to notify them of the event with the ending reading to contact dispatch for more info. When the system was put in to send the e-mail I was under the understanding that we would no longer have to call people on the phone to notify them. My boss has written me up for attempting to save a man's life because I didn't call her and ask permission to leave the dispatch center. I was the only one on shift among dispatchers and officers that had experiance with a GPS device and the way the system works. I felt I would be more of an asset in the field on that incident than to try and describe any satalite photos of the area to the officers. We'll see how this disciplinary meeting goes I've got several people assisting me in writing a statement to read for my defense.
Will-Tone 10-7
I attended the meeting with my boss about my write-up bringing along the union president to watch my back during the nastiness that was soon to begin. The first question he ask about the write-up was "Is this a write-up because it's not in his personnel file at city hall" Her response was about how it wasn't a write-up just a signed paper that we had a verbal discussion. The rest of the meeting was her re-pounding on how I should be paying attention to our channel and not having Desert Agency's channel un-muted. My union president sat back and let her go. After finishing the discussion on my issue she then ask if she could bring some things up and stated two of which would be official write-ups.
I have now been written-up for "leaving my post without permission" and "delaying the response time of officers and failing to gather information." I will explain a bit on each but right now I'm looking at a disciplinary meeting and two days suspension with-out pay for one of the two. The second one about delaying response and gathering information I am guilty of. What dispatcher hasn't sent the officer to the wrong address by accident? Also what dispatcher hasn't forgotten to ask for the description of the person the officers are looking for? It just so happens that both of those hit me on the same call. Now the first one is getting it's own paragraph to explain the events that unfolded that night.
Our dispatch center is a small center and we keep a minimum of two dispatchers working at all times. This night there were three of us working due to it being a weekend. I received a call from Larger Agency about a 911 call they had received on a male in the desert that had been shot. The caller called on a cell phone which displayed the GPS coordinates of the caller's cell phone. Larger Agency gave me the coordinates and said they had their officers in the area looking for the injured male. I began an online search on the coordinates to see if it was within our jurisdiction and was unable to get a good location. I then remembered I had a handheld GPS that I keep in my car for emergencies. I retrieved my GPS and plugged in the coordinates to find that sure enough it was our baby and he was in our town. I then contacted the shift supervisor to notify them of the call and situation. I then ask the shift supervisor if he would be OK with me leaving the dispatch center with an officer to attempt to locate the male. Our officers don't have GPS systems or devices. He told me to clear it with my supervisor and I acknowledged. Before I could pick up the phone to call he told me that if there was an officer in the building to go with him. I understood this as a go ahead an go. I left with the officer to meet everyone else and try to find the male. We searched thoroughly to find him with no success. After I returned to the dispatch center I sent out the e-mail notification that goes to the admins' cell phones to notify them of the event with the ending reading to contact dispatch for more info. When the system was put in to send the e-mail I was under the understanding that we would no longer have to call people on the phone to notify them. My boss has written me up for attempting to save a man's life because I didn't call her and ask permission to leave the dispatch center. I was the only one on shift among dispatchers and officers that had experiance with a GPS device and the way the system works. I felt I would be more of an asset in the field on that incident than to try and describe any satalite photos of the area to the officers. We'll see how this disciplinary meeting goes I've got several people assisting me in writing a statement to read for my defense.
Will-Tone 10-7
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Im Still Here
I'm dropping in to let everyone know I'm still here. Our IT department has cracked the whip on internet usage while at work and out of fear of my blog being discovered or questions brought up I have avoided the internet unless necessary. I now have to post from home which gets difficult.
I am going to break one of my rules of my blog today because it has been keeping in the back of my head and pestering me.
About 3 weeks ago I was written up for 3 things that are not policies in our dispatch center. Our radio screen is a touch screen with our police, fire/ems channels and channels for surrounding agencies in case fecal matter strikes the BIG fan. We had a call that came into us that was for a neighboring agency and we took information and transferred the caller to them. Knowing personally that "Desert Agency" didn't have anyone on shift at that time and someone would be getting called out I unmuted the channel for Desert Agency. I heard my father check on en route to the call. The call was a hysterical female screaming there was a male in front of her house with a gun. I heard Desert Agency dispatch the call and they did not include the information about the gun, the caller may have failed to mention this information. I then called Pops on his cell and gave him the extra info we had about the gun. I then went back to work with their channel unmuted. I was written up because I had that channel unmuted. I was told durning my training to listen to the other agencies that way to hear how they handle things and I am getting written up when my trainer still does that.
I was also written up because I argue with officers and don't get enough info prior to dispatching the call. The call in question that I didn't get enough info on was a call I never took just dispatched out. The call taker took the information and I'm getting disiplined for it. As far as arguing, I do not argue with them. I ask them questions to clarify what is going on since they are my eyes in the field.
Lets please note that when I was written up none of the calls or radio logs were listened to for verification that I did these things. Infact the complaint that I don't get enough info was one officer's word against mine. None of these issues had been mentioned to me prior to the write-up and I went through every policy we have and could not find any that would make these hold water. I have been in contact with my union about these and a meeting with my boss keeps getting bumped to different days due to "meetings".
I know what you've been going through Angie with the sleep issue of recent. I too have had this write up hanging over my head keeping me stressed, frustrated, pissed, angry and tired for the last 3 weeks. My only problem is that I've kicked myself off the caffiene and have been without for 2 months now.
Will-Tone 10-7
P.S.
If Kvegas is still out there please send me an invite to your new blog.
I am going to break one of my rules of my blog today because it has been keeping in the back of my head and pestering me.
About 3 weeks ago I was written up for 3 things that are not policies in our dispatch center. Our radio screen is a touch screen with our police, fire/ems channels and channels for surrounding agencies in case fecal matter strikes the BIG fan. We had a call that came into us that was for a neighboring agency and we took information and transferred the caller to them. Knowing personally that "Desert Agency" didn't have anyone on shift at that time and someone would be getting called out I unmuted the channel for Desert Agency. I heard my father check on en route to the call. The call was a hysterical female screaming there was a male in front of her house with a gun. I heard Desert Agency dispatch the call and they did not include the information about the gun, the caller may have failed to mention this information. I then called Pops on his cell and gave him the extra info we had about the gun. I then went back to work with their channel unmuted. I was written up because I had that channel unmuted. I was told durning my training to listen to the other agencies that way to hear how they handle things and I am getting written up when my trainer still does that.
I was also written up because I argue with officers and don't get enough info prior to dispatching the call. The call in question that I didn't get enough info on was a call I never took just dispatched out. The call taker took the information and I'm getting disiplined for it. As far as arguing, I do not argue with them. I ask them questions to clarify what is going on since they are my eyes in the field.
Lets please note that when I was written up none of the calls or radio logs were listened to for verification that I did these things. Infact the complaint that I don't get enough info was one officer's word against mine. None of these issues had been mentioned to me prior to the write-up and I went through every policy we have and could not find any that would make these hold water. I have been in contact with my union about these and a meeting with my boss keeps getting bumped to different days due to "meetings".
I know what you've been going through Angie with the sleep issue of recent. I too have had this write up hanging over my head keeping me stressed, frustrated, pissed, angry and tired for the last 3 weeks. My only problem is that I've kicked myself off the caffiene and have been without for 2 months now.
Will-Tone 10-7
P.S.
If Kvegas is still out there please send me an invite to your new blog.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Curious
Just a quick question to those of you who read my blog.
Does anyone know what happened to kvegas?
This has been a question that I've ask myself while trolling everyone else's blogs for pieces of sanity. Was she discovered and forced to close down shop?
So here I am enjoying another night of boredom (wow the phone rang just as I typed that...creepy). So here I am enjoying a night of semi-boredom because officers are making more T-stops than I think they should and crap calls float in from the porcelain telephone. I've spent a lot of time thinking as I've been going through a tough time being in a small town with no friends left living here to visit with. (Side note: I love my co-workers tonight. Nothing can make you smile like hearing them say "I'm a peanut" very loudly.)
I have returned from competition and have to say we didn't do bad. I am very proud of our team. We were the smallest post there and while we didn't win any trophies I think we gave the others a good run for their money. We ate at Famous Dave's and one of our explorer's earned a new nickname because of what he ordered, The Texas Man Handler.
Will-Tone 10-7
Does anyone know what happened to kvegas?
This has been a question that I've ask myself while trolling everyone else's blogs for pieces of sanity. Was she discovered and forced to close down shop?
So here I am enjoying another night of boredom (wow the phone rang just as I typed that...creepy). So here I am enjoying a night of semi-boredom because officers are making more T-stops than I think they should and crap calls float in from the porcelain telephone. I've spent a lot of time thinking as I've been going through a tough time being in a small town with no friends left living here to visit with. (Side note: I love my co-workers tonight. Nothing can make you smile like hearing them say "I'm a peanut" very loudly.)
I have returned from competition and have to say we didn't do bad. I am very proud of our team. We were the smallest post there and while we didn't win any trophies I think we gave the others a good run for their money. We ate at Famous Dave's and one of our explorer's earned a new nickname because of what he ordered, The Texas Man Handler.
Will-Tone 10-7
Thursday, June 12, 2008
So it's been a little while since I last posted and I am sorry for that. Once again it has been in part due to the bureaucracy around here and in honesty it's really starting to wear me thin (unfortunately not physically). I have added a couple blogs to my list of favorites, if anyone is interested in joining that growing list leave me a comment (I like them) and I'll check out your blog for adding to the list.To touch a little into my personal life I am again single and have a new female friend who I am very close to. I wont go into much detail but she is adventurous and is not ready to get involved where she is tied down to one person and place. To quote a movie my friends and I could quote most of "Funny how they always want to be friends after they rip your heart out." (brownie points if you can name the movie).
In other stuff my explorers and I have been gearing up to go to a competition this weekend in Sin City. We trained for our "Active Shooter" scenario which made me think of the nightmare dispatch would be should that happen here. It's not everyday that you show up for training and the officer teaching the class says "Ok I want you all to shoot me in the head and put my lights out." The officer brought the simunitions guns and masks for us to work on shooting a hostage taker playing coward behind the hostage. After about 8 times doing that we moved into the school where we began the tactical movements (this is the stuff I live for). Hope we do really well as this is my last competition as an explorer I can attend. I will miss that I have to hand over my chevrons in October because I will be too old for the program.
It has been suggested to me that I should find myself a good hobby. I am currently thinking of a few to start but am limited in due to the number of days off per week I have but I guess it wouldn't be a hobby if it took more days than my work did. I'd like to pick up my guitar lessons again and get my motorcycle licence.
I currently have been playing a lot more online games with my friends. I have always been a big time video game player for as long as I can remember so if anyone has any hobbies for a 20 year old male feel free to shoot ideas at me. For now I'll be done.Will Tone 10-7
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