Hi from Michigan

[cm89]

Hi All. I have recently been hired by the Michigan Dept. of Corrections as a Parole/Probation Officer. I have over 8 years of non-sworn LE experience. I have worked as a dispatcher for a local PD in Michigan and a Federal agency in Maryland. I have my 4 yr degree and I am working on my MPA at the University of Michigan - Dearborn. I want to get back into Federal LE in the next couple of years, but as sworn, NO MORE dispatching!!!! So as of right now that is it.

[slamdunk]

Best of luck with your career and education.

I am with you on your comment about dispatching. As a new sworn officer at a large department a few years ago, part of our training involved spending a week working with the agency's dispatchers. My observation was that dispatch is one stressful job in which you have little control over the outcome--let me be the responding officer any day...

[cm89]

WOW..putting an officer in dispatch for a week...At my old agency we pushed for that for years....the only thing we got was the chief's secretary brought the poor soul into dispatch for a meet and greet and came and rescued them about 10 min later....We are a cranky, spiteful bunch.

[slamdunk]

WOW..putting an officer in dispatch for a week...At my old agency we pushed for that for years....the only thing we got was the chief's secretary brought the poor soul into dispatch for a meet and greet and came and rescued them about 10 min later....We are a cranky, spiteful bunch.

Funny stuff. The department where I worked was a large agency, and was assigned to the overnight shift at the time. The most traumatizing experience during my week at dispatch was when they talked me into escorting a center employee to one of the local fast food restaurants at 3 am on a Saturday morning to pick up the shift's food.

At that time of the morning there are obviously not many choices to eat, and I can still picture the dispatch gal walking to the busy counter with her order list for the shift that included 17 cheeseburgers, 29 french fries, and more drinks than we could carry in three trips. The fast food workers repeatedly mumbled curse words at the size of the order, and the customers behind us in line we in near riot mode.

As you can imagine around meal time for my remaining day there, I found lots of other things to do rather than helping with the food pick-up.