The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, May 16, 2003 Page: 4 of 28
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THE RICE THRESHER
FRIDAY, MAY 16,2003
6
RUPD dispatch system shows systematic safety flaws
by Olivia Allison and Liora Danan
THRESHER EDnVRlAL STAFF
One Rice University Police De-
partment dispatcher resigned
Wednesday, leaving only three dis-
patchers available to cover the
24-hours-per-day, seven-days-per-
week job. Rice dispatchers, who are
consistently underpaid according to
Police Chief Bill Taylor, are now
regularly working shifts of up to
16 hours.
The dispatcher's resignation fol-
lowed a student complaint in the
early morning of April 24 about his
performance after he failed to dis-
patch a call for a night escort ser-
vice. A police investigation found he
had failed to dispatch two other calls
that night. Thresher photographs
from an hour later show the dis-
patcher, who had dispatching expe-
rience prior to coming to Rice, asleep
during his shift.
Emergency Medical Services
Director Dave Melville (Martel '03)
said there was an incident this se-
mester of an EMS call that was not
dispatched until an hour later. He
did not say which dispatcher failed
to ilispatch the call.
The Rice University Police De-
partment has five positions for dis-
patchers. who handle the approxi-
mately 38 calls received by the de-
partment each day. This number
does not include calls for the night
escort service, which are logged
separately. Almost always, only one
dispatcher works at any given time.
Another dispatcher retired last
month after dispatching for 23 years,
and another had been trained for
about three weeks before quitting to
take a non-dispatch job.
"We're going to have to figure
out what we're doing." Taylor said.
"We're running short, and we're try-
ing to fill the space."
With only three dispatchers, each
would need to work 5<5 hours per
week, so some police officers are
covering shifts. Former Rice dis-
patchers have also agreed to cover
some shifts.
Still, dispatchers are working
more than their designated eight-
hour shifts, which Taylor said can
lead to lower performance.
The longer you work, you get
tired," he said.
Understaffing is especially a prob-
lem during major events, Taylor said.
He said the police might schedule
an additional dispatcher during ma-
jor events on campus, such as Com-
mencement, Beer-Bike. Wiess's
Night of Decadence party and foot-
ball games.
However. Melville said often only
one dispatcher was on-duty this year
during Beer-Bike and NOD. al-
though he believes an additional dis-
patcher would lead to better man-
agement of calls.
'There's a whole
myriad of things
beyond just the typical
sitting there, answering
the calls.'
— Bill Taylor
Rice University Police
Department Chief
"We have had multiple dispatch-
ers present at some large-scale
events, but not on a consistent ba-
sis." he said. "Events on the scale of
NOD and Beer-Bike certainly re-
quire two dispatchers to be handled
effectively. I think this can be seen
as indicative of our consistent staff-
ing problem."
Starting Rice dispatchers are paid
less than Rice's mid-range salary of
$26.100 for dispatchers. Tayior said.
At the University of Texas-Health
Science Center, the mid-range sal-
ary for dispatchers is $35,100.
Melville said he thinks more
qualified candidates could be hired
if they were offered a higher salary
"I feel that, based upon the job
requirements and the responsibiii-
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A Rice University Poiice Department dispatcher is observed sleeping on the Job at about 4:50 a.m. on Thursday,
Aprii 24. The dispatcher resigned on Wednesday after a department investigation found that he had failed to dispatch
three non-emergency calls.
ties of the dispatcher, the salary does
not provide adequate compensa-
tion." he said.
Dispatchers at Rice are required
to have a high school diploma, and
before being hired, they undergo
interviews, a background check and
a psychiatric evaluation.
The State of Texas requires that
within a year of being hired, they
must be certified to operate the
Texas Law Enforcement Telecom-
munication System and must take
the test for the Texas Commission
on Law Enforcement Officer Stan-
dards and Education.
Rice dispatchers have more di-
verse tasks than municipal dispatch-
ers. Taylor said.
"If you go to West University or
you go to the City of Houston and
look at what their dispatchers are
doing, it's much more structured and
very strict' he said. 'Those opera-
tions don't have some of the things
we have. ... There's a whole myriad
of things beyond just the typical sit-
ting there, answering the calls."
In addition to answering calls to
the main police phone line. Rice dis-
patchers answer emergency phone
calls from blue-light phones and el-
evators. They monitor fire and secu-
rity alarm systems and footage from
cameras in the underground park-
ing garage. They also validate out-
of-state drivers' licenses, provide
keys for on-campus buildings and
answer questions about parking and
parking gate calls after the parking
facilities office has closed. Other
duties include dispatching calls to
do lice and escort service drivers and
paging EMS.
"It's a very high-stress job, and a
lot of people don't think of it like
that, but you might be in there for
two hours, and there might be noth-
ing happening," Taylor said. "Then,
all of the sudden, you get a tele-
phone call that there's a suspicious
person someplace, you get a blue-
light phone going off. you get a fire
alarm going off."
Taylor said the dispatch positions
are not currently listed as student
jobs, and he thinks dispatching might
conflict with student schedules.
However. Melville said he thinks
that if a student received the proper
certification and had time to work
the job. a student would be qualified.
"If the student wanted to work in
the position, they would certainly be
able to, if they had time for an eight-
hour shift every couple of days, on
weekends," he said.
New dispatchers work alongside
another dispatcher for about three
weeks before they are allowed to
work on their own. In this training
period. Taylor said they try to ac-
quaint new dispatchers with the cam-
pus layout. However. Taylor said in
an ideal situation, dispatchers would
spend more time familiarizing them-
selves with the campus.
Melville said dispatchers need
more training.
"I feel that they could benefit from
continued training, education and
skill development." he said.
Melville suggested that dispatch-
ers could benefit from participating
in mock scenarios, in which they
handle large-scale or sensitive events
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that would require them to work
under stress or time constraints. He
said he does not know of dispatch-
ers currently receiving this type of
training.
Taylor said RUPD has made a
capital request for approximately
$30,000 to renovate the dispatch cen-
ter. which Sgt. Randy Marshall called
"a disaster."
Because tasks and equipment
have been added incrementally over
the years, the dispatch center is not
as efficient as it could be, Taylor said.
"It's kind of like a mish-mash,"
Taylor said. "So what we want to do
is rebuild it so it's a functional, pro-
fessional operation that makes
things easier for the dispatcher and
it works better and it's all coordi-
nated."
Former EMS Director Noah
Reiter Qones '(X)) wrote a proposal
in 2001 suggesting ways to improve
the dispatcher's performance.
These suggestions included in-
creasing and prolonging dispatcher
training, increasing the number of
dispatchers and requiring more pro-
fessional behavior.
Melville said he thinks dispatch-
ers' professionalism has improved,
but he could not speak for the other
suggestions because he only became
EMS director in January.
However, Melville said he thinks
dispatcher training should have more
continual education to enhance skills
they learned in the initial training.
'I feel that they could
benefit from continued
training, education and
skill development.'
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Taylor said he has never received
a complaint from Miini Mokarzel,
the driver of the night escort van,
about the dispatchers. Mokarzel's
supervisor. Administrative Services
Manager Eugen Radulescu. also said
he was not aware of any complaints
from Mokarzel.
Some students said they had
heard Mimi complain of missed dis-
patch calls, but Taylor said these
complaints had not reached him.
"I can't speak for Mimi. and I
don't know why she's not telling us,"
Taylor said "Where you run into a
problem is when the feedback
doesn't come back "
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Berenson, Mark. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, May 16, 2003, newspaper, May 16, 2003; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398503/m1/4/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.