Police News May - New Zealand Police Association

New Zealand Police AssociationMay 2004Comms staff express concern:“It’s not a matter of if a tragedy willhappen, it’s a matter of when”The idea of centralising the Commsnetwork and having the ability to linkchannels at times of peak call demand,in order to service emergency calls fromany part of the country, seemed like agood idea at the time of its inception.For instance, an Auckland dispatcher,via this centralised base, could dispatchChristchurch police units in response toan incident in Aranui.That was the theory. Inpractice it has problems.Unfamiliarity with localgeography is one and thiscan cost valuable time.Time is of the essence whenstreet staff find themselvesin dangerous situationsrequiring back up.An Auckland dispatchermay not, for example,know the roads aroundAranui, whereas aChristchurch dispatcheris likely to have first-handknowledge of the area.The risk is compoundedin an atmosphere wherecommunicators anddispatchers are under heavy workloads.Technological differences in phonenetworks can also add to the time ittakes to dispatch units in emergencysituations. Phones linked to the Telecomnetwork can be easily verified to anaddress but, should the caller be usingthe Saturn network, a prepaid phone orcellphone, then the only way to verifydetails is from the caller relaying themto the communicator first-hand.“If there are difficulties with somethinglike a violent domestic then this createsextra problems, but that’s the same forall Comms centres,” one staffer toldPolice News.LinkingWhere there are insufficient dispatchersavailable, linking of channels is thenorm. One dispatcher explained toPolice News: “That’s where problemsarise. You then get a dispatcher lookingafter two channels and then on top ofthat communicators or dispatchers maybe required to pick up the overload of111 calls and AES (allied emergencyservice) calls (Ambulance, Coast Guard).”This is where a combination of humanerror and some degree of technologicalinadequacy (e.g. poor radio reception)could combine with devastating results.An incident in Auckland highlightedthe potential for a serious mistake. Anoperator, who answered a 111 call,missed part of the caller’s reference tothere being a firearm involved. Unitswere dispatched without the officers• Comms staff do a great job in stressful circumstances. (Photocourtesy of the NZ Herald).heading to the incident being awareof this all-important fact. Luckily,someone else queried the allegedoffender’s name, recognized him ashaving access to firearms and a historyof violence against police officers andthe unit was stood down. The AOS(Armed Offenders’ Squad) resolved thesituation.In July 2002, the Police Departmentgave assurances that it was “workingvery hard to resolve these issues”(linking channels). At that time,the issue of linking resulted in theDepartment saying that it was looking at“new radio channel configuration plansbeing developed by each centre in aneffort to maximise the use of dispatcherresources (and) in an effort to limit thenumber of linkings that occur.”The Police Department told thePolice Association that some linkingswould still occur, however, only whencentres experienced what it referredto as “unscheduled absences dueto illness or where they needed toprovide rostered breaks for dispatchstaff”.Comms staff told Police Newsthat linking of channels is nowcommonplace and they believe it isbeing used to cover staffing shortages.PressuresThe Police Association is extremelyconcerned that both sworn and nonswornstaff are being asked to work insuch stressful situations.In Central Comms(Wellington), staff shortagesoften lead to dispatchersanswering both general and111 calls. This is the normon night shift from Sundaythrough to Thursday whencommunicators go off shift atmidnight, leaving dispatchersto handle these calls for thenext seven hours. At CentralComms, staff say they are 10staff down.The frustration felt by staff inall three centres is palpable.Some feel managementdoesn’t have an ear fortheir concerns. Anecdotalevidence suggests they arecorrect. In a recent incidentin North Comms, a dispatcher went tothe ‘break-out room’ for time out afterbecoming seriously stressed. Otherstaff saw the team leader follow thestaffer into the room and thought thatthe team leader was inquiring as to thewelfare of the stressed operator. Notso. As it transpired, the team leaderwas inquiring when the staffer couldbe back on the floor. “Staff find thissort of attitude very disappointing andinsensitive,” one worker told Police News.They are concerned, not only for theirown health and welfare but for that oftheir colleagues, frontline police andthe public. They say they have givengoodwill in abundance. They say theyhave gone the extra mile on numerousoccasions and continue to do so.They say it is time the administrationacknowledged the goodwill they havegiven over years. And they say it ishigh time staffing levels were raisedconsiderably; in order to alleviatean untenable situation, which couldvery easily, given the wrong set ofcircumstances, end in a tragedy.81