Sheriff's Office dispatch a rewarding and challenging job

[Editor's Note: This is part one of a two-part series looking at the duties of Mineral County Sheriff's Office dispatch.]

Each week the Mineral Independent publishes the Mineral County Sheriff’s Report to help people paint a better picture of what deputies are doing during their shifts.

Anna May is the most tenured Communication Officer, or dispatch, with 2.5 years in her position with the Sheriff's Office. May, and all of the other COs, take the calls 24/7/365, but she also is the person who compiles the weekly report for publication.

What readers see is the lion’s share of duties and responsibilities that the deputies perform, but she tells us that there are additional assignments.

“Yes, there is much more! There are certain things we can't add into the report for security. But security checks - the deputies check businesses during and after hours. Then there are extra patrols if there has been suspicious activity in a certain area, an uptick in crime, or someone is on vacation and wants the Sheriff's Office to look in on the property...our guys check those areas to make sure everything and everyone is safe. And many follow ups which are ongoing cases that need more work to be done,” she said.

“Then there are all of the back duties dispatch does, like assisting detention (jailers) with doors and answering inmate pages, entering warrants and orders of protection (this process takes anywhere from 10-45 minutes per court order), answering main line calls. And 911 hang-ups. Dispatch gets numerous 911 hang-ups, meaning we answer the phone to dead-air. We then attempt call back numerous times and check for history with that number. Many go nowhere and Dispatch has taken up time in their day for a butt dial, a toddler with someone’s phone, or no explanation at all,” she shares. “This is by far the hardest job I have ever had. It can be emotionally and mentally draining. There are some calls that I have taken that will stay with me for the rest of my life. But this is also the most rewarding job I have very had. To be given the chance to be a first responder in this amazing county and to have the friendships I have forged with my coworkers. It is an honor to work here and be a part of this community.”

You may scratch your head wondering just what is meant by a term that is used in her weekly report. May prepared a list of common calls Deputies respond to with examples:

Suspicious Activities

Examples of suspicious activities are wide ranging. They can be strange vehicles in the proximity, unknown suspicious person(s) loitering around, basically anything that a reporting part seems out of place or suspicious.

I-90 Traffic Complaints

Yes, this is a jurisdiction issue. I-90 is not a high-ranking priority as it does fall under MHPs purview; however, there are instances where if a Deputy is close by, they will respond.

Civil Service

When legal papers (e.g., Temporary Order of Protections, Order of Protections, Summons and Complaints (someone being sued and lawyers for the company suing sends court documents), Parenting Plans, etc.) need to be served they are submitted to the Civil Department of the Sheriff’s Office (which is ran by the more experienced Dispatchers). We then process the paperwork and give it to Deputies in an envelope with whom needs served and their address. Deputies then drive out to their home and other places approved by the court orders. If they are not home, then it is called a negative service as they cannot serve the papers. If they are home and able to serve the papers then we call it service completed.

Traffic Stops

Some traffic stops will say warning issued, citation issued, or Deputy completed stop. Deputy completed stop is a vague answer, most of the times it’s because the outcome of the stop was not notated in the call or Dispatch was not given the information. Or it could mean that there was no citation or warning issued, could be that it was them pulling up to a car on the side of the road and the driver is just taking a nap, could be that the Deputy thought he had reason for the traffic stop and it turns out he did not so there is no result for the call.

Traffic Stop

The purpose of a traffic stop is to obtain voluntarily compliance of the law. Based upon driver conversation, road conditions, circumstance, and a variety of other things, determines whether a warning or citation is issued. Our bottom objective is to educate and make the roadways of Mineral County safer.