2004 Annual Report - City of Fairbanks

FPD MEMBER PROFILE:
LEAD DISPATCHER JULIE RITCHIE
Julie Ritchie, one of three Lead Dispatchers for F.P.D., was born in San Diego,
California. Julie moved to Alaska with her family when she was two years old,
growing up and attending school in North Pole. In 1990 Julie went to work for the
University of Alaska’s Security Department in an administrative capacity. This job
eventually led her into the University Dispatch Center, where in 1993 she began
working as an Emergency- Services Dispatcher. In 1999 Julie came to the Fairbanks
Police Department, joining our Dispatch Center. In September of 2004 Julie was
promoted to the position of Lead Dispatcher, where she supervises the other dispatch
personnel assigned to her shift.
Julie is married and has three children. She enjoys snow-machining, boating,
fishing and four-wheeling in the great Alaska outdoors. Julie is also an avid quilter,
and serves as a volunteer with the Girl Scouts. Her favorite book is The Five People
you Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom.
Julie likes the challenge of Emergency Communications, “never knowing what is
going to happen the next time the phone rings.” Julie states that the down-side of
the job is “that knot in the pit of your stomach when officers are involved in high-risk
calls, like an officer-involved shooting, when you don’t know what is happening and
whether the officers are safe.”
In August of 2004, Julie displayed her
calm professionalism and willingness
to go “above-and-beyond the call of
duty.” Julie received a 911 call on a
cell phone from a hunter who had
been mauled by a grizzly bear in a
remote area South of Fairbanks.
When the injured man was unable to
describe his exact location, Julie spent
the next four hours alternating
between talking with the injured man
on the phone, and contacting friends
and relatives in an attempt to find
someone who knew the hunter’s
planned whereabouts. In the
meantime, a U.S. Army MAST
Dispatcher Ritchie and injured hunter Jim Johnson helicopter launched a Medivac
mission, searching for the injured
hunter. The search was delayed due to dense smoke from area forest fires. As Julie
spoke with the injured hunter over his cell phone, she could hear the helicopter in
the background as it flew back-and-forth over the area in its search. Julie continued
to reassure the injured man that help was on the way throughout the ordeal. The
MAST crew eventually spotted the hunter’s camp from the air; Julie and her fellow
Dispatchers gave a collective sigh of relief when they finally heard the MAST
helicopter land nearby! The injured hunter was transported to Fairbanks Memorial
Hospital for treatment, and Julie immediately returned to fielding the never-ending
stream of incoming “routine” and emergency calls for service.
Page 31