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Gatekeeping Police Services - Police Operators and Dispatchers (From Police at Work, P 127-144, 1983, Richard R Bennett, ed. - See NCJ-89673)

NCJ Number
89679
Author(s)
E J Scott; S L Percy
Date Published
1983
Length
18 pages
Annotation
Widespread discretion in the gatekeeping and response coordination functions of police telephone operators and dispatchers can produce errors in coding requests, delay response time, influence public attitudes toward the police, and ultimately affect police performance.
Abstract
Police call takers perform various gatekeeping functions, including determining eligibility of service requests, interpreting, coding, and transmitting demand messages, selecting initial response alternatives, and providing information to persons requesting services. Police operators must make these decisions quickly and often without guidance from rules or supervisors. Common criteria to determine eligibility are geographic boundaries, service domain, and seriousness of need. Operators have more discretion in interpreting and coding information into agency-relevant terminology, usually short sets of numerical codes. Operator discretion in selecting responses is prevalent when guidelines are nonexistent, vague, or unenforced and can be influenced by the caller's credibility, the operator's mood, and the current workload. Operators have considerable discretion in the ways they dispense information and often must help callers articulate their demands. In reviewing calls for service and dispatching appropriate units, dispatchers prioritize calls in high demand periods and have some discretion in assigning units. While they have little discretion in reporting complaint codes, they have greater discretion in forwarding additional information to responding officers. Because of increasing demands and diminishing resources, police administrators are likely to turn to nonpatrol responses and consequently should upgrade the status of dispatchers and operators through selective recruitment, better salaries, and comprehensive training. The paper provides 2 footnotes and 27 references.