This is a Stressfull part of the year for me

[CPD-Dispatcher]

The only thing about this part of the year is the suicide calls go up. Just tonight I had a female stab herself, A guy call me said he had 2 shotguns and a 9mm and was not going down without a fight. Lucky for us he was drunker than heck and forgot to load the guns.


I hate the calls. It makes me think of the guy that called me one afternoon just before xmas. Complained about his neighbors barking dog. Then 15min later called back and said he could not take it anymore and shot the dog. After he hung up on me, he called back again about 5min later and asked me if I would stay on the phone with him because he was afraid of the police. He talked with me for a few seconds then said hang on I have something for you to hear. Took a shotgun put it in his mouth, and with the phone still at his ear he shot himself.


In the note he left, he wrote that he did not think I sounded as if I gave two shits about his problem, and that It was all my fault that he is dead.


I know it was not my fault. But just to think of it.


Well I have talked enough already. I was just thinking about this subject and figured I would get it out of my system.


It is time for bed.


Good night everyone

[ATF SAC]

Good to just put it out there. You caught a variation of suicide by cop, in which the person does what they were going to do anyway and tries passing off the guilt by involving some third party to be a form of "sin eater." "None of this is my fault" Well depending on the degree of depression and mental illness, it may not be their fault, but it certainly was not yours either. This is really a tough time of year to be in the public safety business, because folks on the edge go over as the Holiday spirit furthers their isolation. Good time for us to count up our wins over the year and remember one of the first rules of self preservation, "Buddy, I will do what I can to save you, but I am not going over the edge with you."

[Spears]

Do you by any chance have any critical incident debreifing, or peer support programs at your agency Ohio?

[CPD-Dispatcher]

Originally posted by Spears
Do you by any chance have any critical incident debreifing, or peer support programs at your agency Ohio?

For the officers Yes. For anyone else. No.

However I am now in the uphill fight to get that changed.

[MacLeod]

I've said this before, but it never gets old. I don't know how you dispatchers do it. Phones, radio, dispatching...etc. I always dread the days when I'm the duty agent for the office, cause I know I'm going to get every nutjob that just wants to talk about some kind of crime they think we ought to be investigating. AND...you guys deal with it 8-10 hours a shift. God Bless you guys.

[AuntieDispatche]

Just wanted to let you know I've been thinking about you, Jim. I hope things are going okay for you and your co workers. This is a tough time of the year for a lot of us. The holidays put more pressure on us both professionally and personally. I think that's what I like about this forum, most of us know what you're talking about and going through. We may not have had the exact same experience, but something similar.

Take care and stay well.

Mary

[LA Express]

Originally posted by MacLeod
I don't know how you dispatchers do it.
God Bless you guys.

Amen to that!

Those incidents are extremely hard core and I can only imagine how difficult they are to deal with, but I'm glad that you realize that there's only one person to blame here. You can try, try, and try some more to help someone, but if they don't want or won't accept the help, you never had a chance in the first place. People like that make their own decisions, so whatever words he used in an attempt to lay blame elsewhere should ring as hollow as his supposed cries for help.

As was stated above, you dispatchers are about the most together group of people I've ever worked with. We all know that you guys are there to do the best you can to help the public and those of us on the street, and I for one appreciate the hell out of that.