Re-assessing measurement error in police calls for service: Classifications of events by dispatchers and officers

Police calls for service are an important conduit by which officers and researchers can obtain insight into public requests for police service. Questions remain, however, about the quality of these data, and, particularly, the prevalence of measurement error in the classifications of events. As part of the present research, we assess the accuracy of call-types used by police dispatchers to describe events that are responded to by police officers. Drawing upon a sample of 515,155 calls for police service, we explore the differences among initial call-types, cleared call-types, and crime-types as documented in crime reports. Our analyses reveal that although the majority of calls for service exhibit overlap in their classifications, many still exhibit evidence of misclassification. Our analyses also reveal that such patterns vary as a function of call- and crime-type categories. We discuss our findings in light of the challenges of the classification process and the associated implications.

Calling the Police: Dispatchers as Important Interpreters and Manufacturers of Calls for Service Data

Policing has historically been conceptualized as a team sport which requires the work of many to produce the output of one. Although police officers have been the focus of much policing research, it is important to recognize that the work of officers hinges upon the work of dispatchers. As a lifeline for both citizens and police officers, dispatchers play an integral role in ensuring that help is provided where help is required via their management of the emergency (911) telephone and radio system. Despite their importance, however, dispatchers have largely been excluded from mainstream criminological scholarship. Supplemented by a narrative review of the scant literature on the subject of dispatching, this commentary illustrates the important role of dispatchers in policing operations, theorizes the dearth of research regarding dispatchers, and calls for future research to better understand their discretionary and interpretive work. This commentary thus casts light on these highly important but understudied and undertheorized figures in the policing nexus.

Unique Job Roles and Mental Health Risk Factors Among Emergency Dispatchers

Emergency medical, fire, and police dispatchers are often called the first, first responders. Working in emergency communication centers, they are the first point of contact with medical, fire, and law enforcement resources and the first point of access to public health and public safety systems for millions of callers each year. Emergency dispatchers face unique risks to their mental health, and the roles and responsibilities specific to their work produce stressors not synonymous with those encountered by other first responders and emergency workers. Yet relatively little research has been done to understand the specific mental health concerns of this vital and often overlooked segment of the emergency services profession. The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of the job-specific tasks and work characteristics that make the emergency dispatcher's job qualitatively different from the jobs of other emergency workers and first responders, then discuss the unique mental health risks associated with their work.

Dispatching Information in 911 Teams

Recent tragedies in police emergency responses have brought to light the need for a human factors perspective in team information-sharing. Emergency dispatchers, such as police dispatchers on large college campuses, are an information center. Dispatchers obtain information from, and forward information to, multiple members of the response team (e.g., the civilian caller, police officers, medical dispatchers, other local, state, and national departments, language services, investigative units, etc.). In this case study, we take a systems approach wherein we conducted semi-structured interviews with three police dispatchers. Results describing the task, the team, and information sharing are presented through a hierarchical task analysis and a knowledge network representation. Findings document multitasking, communicating in multiple modalities (e.g., verbally, written), bi-directional communications, and quick decision making about information-sharing by dispatchers. Human factors interventions, such as technology support and altering team dynamics, may help promote efficient and effective information- sharing across the emergency response team.