Send Behind the Scenes Makes Law Enforcement Work

Posted: 8:35 PM Apr 12, 2012
Reporter: Michael Gossum

Behind the Scenes Makes Law Enforcement Work

Some in law enforcement call them a lifeline, others call them the brains of the operation.

"It's just such a critical part of the puzzle, such a critical cog in the whole wheel of the works," said Bowling Green Police Officer Ronnie Ward.

These are the telecommunicators often referred to as dispatchers.

They take emergency calls, can give first aid over the phone, dispatch law enforcement, and tell them what they need to do.

"There's been numerous times when I've gotten out on a complaint where it's just me out there. I know I've got that one person that I can use my radio that will be there for me, give me whatever information I need. They're almost like a guardian angel for us," said Kentucky State Police Trooper Jonathan Biven.

In the case of yesterday's arrest of robbery suspect Keith Fant, several officers were in communication together through dispatchers.

"Without them we would have to do all of that ourselves, and it would never get done. We couldn't do our job as effectively without them," said Ward.

For dispatcher Daniel Priddy, he won an award for the way he handled the horrible Hart County I-65 crash two years ago that nearly wiped out an entire family.

That fateful night, he was the only dispatcher.

"Talking to troops, talking to EMS, talking to fire, as well as answering every 911 call that was coming in. His voice never changed. He remained calm, a lot of people couldn't do that," said Biven.

"The first call, a guy said there was a pretty bad accident out there, that there was people laying all over the ground. So, automatically I figured it was pretty bad. There was an 11 person fatality, phones were ringing off the hook. I think we had well over 100 in the first ten minutes. It was a crazy event. Anytime, there's that much loss of life, you can imagine how stressful it is," said Priddy.

Eyes, ears, brains, whatever you want to call them they're what keeps it all together.

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