A Call for Service: Examining Dispatcher Victimization

Introduction

Television shows like Cops; Walker, Texas Ranger; Law & Order; and Live PD have captivated audiences for decades. These “small screen” programs have spurred widespread interest into policing, and the issues officers face in the line of duty. Subsequently, the public has largely engrossed themselves with these depictions of the criminal justice system and law enforcement. Empirically, scholars have provided findings that collectively illustrate the known dangers and complexities associated with law enforcement within the United States (Ellrich, 2016; Gersons, 1989; Kaminski, Jefferies, & Gu, 2003; Martin, Marchand, Boyer, & Martin, 2009; Rabe-Hemp & Schuck, 2007; Reiser & Geiger, 1985; Sierra-Arévalo & Nix, 2020; Weisheit, Falcone, & Wells, 2005).

The dangers of law enforcement, subsequent depictions (e.g., Cops), and conversations (e.g., Sierra-Arévalo & Nix, 2020) thereof, have overwhelmingly forgotten 9-1-1 dispatchers (Klimley, Hasselet, & Stripling, 2018; Pierce & Lilly, 2012). Recently, however, social interest in dispatchers has increased. Shuler and Sypher (2000) suggested that “television shows like Rescue 911 paint the job of dispatcher as exciting and heroic. As many dispatchers point out, however, that is not always really what it is like” (p. 65). Current television shows, such as 911, 911: Lone Star, and the forthcoming show, Emergency Call, have picked up where Rescue 911 left off in using procedural drama television to depict the nature of fielding 9-1-1 calls. However, little research or attention is paid to the history of the U.S. 9-1-1 system or its current operators. Thus, it is important to understand both the historical and contemporary context of 9-1-1 dispatching.

Background

While policing in the United States can be traced back to the mid-1800s, the 9-1-1 system was developed in the 1960s after three key events. First, in the late-1950s, the National Association of Fire Chiefs created a single telephone number for reporting fires (Abate, 2017; National Emergency Number Association, n.d.). Second, the high-profile 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese highlighted inefficiencies in police responses to emergency situations. This was due, in part, to the fact that The New York Times, using police records, identified 38 witnesses that heard her cries for help as she was being stabbed to death but did not phone for help. Though it is disputed whether calls were made to the police about the incident (Abate, 2017), the collective media attention of the case is considered to be a key event in the creation of the 9-1-1 system. Third, in the midst of widespread police reform recommendations made by the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice in the late-1960s, a recommendation for a single telephone number for emergency situations was made and subsequently acted upon by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) (Abate, 2017; NENA, n.d.). The “9-1-1” combination was chosen because it was believed to be easily remembered and quickly dialed on rotary telephones. In addition, “9-1-1” was an area code that had not been previously utilized (Abate, 2017; NENA, n.d.).