Public Education?

[MrJim911]

Does anyone have any type of public education program set up that the dispatchers do? We are thinking of setting up a program that would bring the public to an open setting to listen to us explain our carerr and also allow them to ask questions.

[Lupey]

No we don't have any programs like that. The only thing we have is that Citizen Academy. But what they actually do is beyond me as I have never attended one here :(

[MrJim911]

Yea, one of our police departments has a Citizens Police Academy also. But we are just a 4 hour visit out of the 12 weeks of the class. Hardly enough time to go over certain things citizens should know.

[Noodle]

We do not have a formal civilian education program, but we do have a lot of people that ride along with the officers. Many times people that do this sit in Dispatch for awhile. We also have a student security division where students provide extra eyes and ears for the police. Many of the students can then come in and sit as well. On occasion we will have other students writing reports that do research on us for their classes. All of these people have to get individual permission to sit in the dispatch center.

[MrJim911]

Same here, one of the requirements of the explorer program around here is to sit in dispatch to get a feel for what we do. We let them plug into calls so they don't sit there with a glazed look in their eye as we explain the CAD system and other stuff...LOL