I learned a lot through observing dispatch for a day. I learned a communication system that
all officers, fire departments, and dispatch are linked too. I learned that any officer can
communicate with nearly any officer in the county very fast through their computers. Also
these computers are nearly the bases for the officers work as they use them for good
portion of all there calls. The computers contain a lot of useful, fast and efficient
information that the officers have instant access to. I also learned it is very important to
sign off at the end of your shift, leading to other officers playing pranks on each other. I
learned how the east aurora patrol areas work as well. The town is divided into the “town”
and the “village”, one officer covers each and if there is a third on they cover the whole
town. Also there schedules run on twelve hour shifts from 7am to 7pm or 7pm to 7
am. I have learned the officers need to look professional every day without exceptions
including hygiene and proper uniform. The uniform includes them not wearing short
sleeves during a period of time when they should be wearing long sleeves.
I developed skills of being very observing to unusual things that wouldn’t seem usual to
me as normal. I realized that’s it’s for easy to guess what you’re coming into based on the
call information. Negative skills I inquired while observing the officer is if you joke