EoC's World of Dispatching

[Eater of Clowns]

They had to let Sammy go today.

I guess Saturday night he didn't come in on time.  It's becoming sort of a thing of his, really, but he does usually show up.  Well he showed up again.  Creature of habit, this one, so when they saw he didn't park in his normal spot they knew something was up.  Our newest dispatcher waited for a bit.  She saw him stumble out of his truck and try to get into the gate to the jail.  Problem is, we don't use those gates.  We have a separate building.

So she guides him, stumbling and slurring and incoherent to our door.  He buzzes the bell like he does every day and when the lock is released from upstairs he misses the handle.  Three times.  The new girl opens the door for him and he leans and stumbles his way up the stairs, just claims he's tired says he's so tired.

I don't know how much time passed but eventually his partner is holding him down.  He won't let him leave because he's a danger on the road to himself and others, but it's too much for him.  It's busy up here, even on third shift at midnight on a Saturday.  He lets up to go answer some ambulance and Sammy takes the chance to leave.  He shits himself on the way out, leaving a trail of feces down the stairs that our bosses have to come in and clean until 3 am.

He was banned from property the next day.  They couldn't find him to serve him his termination papers until the day after.  He was pulled over by the local PD and managed to avoid the OUI because he knew the cop and she guided him home.  Ended up in an ambulance at least twice today.  So ends the 19 year tenure of one of our dispatchers.

His road's been heading here for a while.  Back in August he had his first leave of absence.  We figured he was hitting the booze again and it wasn't mixing well with the cocktail he needs for his diabetes and his gastric bypass and whatever else he's on.  Said he'd worked with employee assistance and got cleared to come back.  A few weeks later he's suspended again, he's erratic.  Nobody knows what's true anymore because he tells a different story to each party.

Heard his wife moved out on him.  Heard he owes a lot of money after his latest cooking gig at some dive bar turned out badly.  Heard he'd been spotted in his old haunts at odd hours.  Always told everyone he was getting the help he needed.  Until he just didn't.

So we had to let Sammy go today.  What other choice did we have?

[Eater of Clowns]

I'm bumping this because I've been posting a lot of work stuff in Open Bar lately.

So they took away our uniform allowance. We have a required getup: uniform shirt, uniform pants, black polished boots or shoes, black belt, black socks. Every year we would get a check in September for upkeep of said uniform.

Well the higher ups decided that we can't be trusted with money and doing the proper thing with it. Add that to the over $1200 they've taken away from us already this year. So instead of a check, we are now getting:

3 - Uniform shirts, choice of long sleeve or short
3 - Uniform pants

Every year. Now you might noticed a few discrepancies between our required uniform and the one they're giving us in the form of a belt, socks, and shoes. I brought this up with my supervisor (who does not agree with these policies and has fought against them, to his credit).

"Boss, as our belt, socks, and shoes are not being provided for, I am going to assume that these parts of the uniform are now optional. If you see me coming into work barefoot in the near future you'll know why."

"Of course, EoC, they're not giving you any boots to wear!"

I am now in the process of trying to convince my co-workers to wear hot pink belts, socks, and shoes.

[Cainad (dec.)]

 

[Richter]

Hello Kitty Socks.  Always.

High heeled boots.

Length of hemp rope for the belt.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Metallic blue doc martens. You know you wanna.

[Eater of Clowns]

I will attempt to explain the process of bailing an individual out from our facility.

On weekdays until 4pm, all bails are held at the courthouse. After 4pm, they have to come to one of our locations to do it. We have two, one in the town I work in and one in the neighboring city (which, incidentally, is the oldest working jail in the US – there are boarded up trap doors from where they used to have hangings). The bails are held at set times and are conducted by the Bail Clerk.

The Bail Clerks are Clerk Magistrates. They make $40 cash for every bail they process, be it $10,000 or $50 – an hour's work can rake in a few hundred dollars for these guys, who are already compensated well into six figures for their regular jobs (this came under scrutiny recently when a clerk in Boston posted bail for the son of the area's most famous sports announcer, who was locked up for beating the crap out of his girlfriend, and the man promptly left the jail and killed her). They're on a rotation.

The bails are held at set times every day – 4:30, 7:30, and midnight, at both locations. At both locations. A single bail clerk works. If you are asking how an individual can be in two places, you have spotted a flaw in our system. The clerks themselves determine which of the locations they will be visiting in which order, based largely on their present whereabouts. People looking to pay bail are expected to check in at the proper location at least a half hour before the bail time, so 4:00, 7:00, and 11:30. On top of the half hour wait, they wait for every bail in line before them, and possibly at every bail at the other location, as well as transportation time for the bail clerk. Waiting two hours is not uncommon. There is no lobby or waiting area – they wait in their cars. Oh, and bail clerks can cancel certain bail times, day of. One of them has a policy of no bails at midnight at my location on weekends.

A person navigates this labyrinthine system and comes to my location more than a half hour prior to the next bail period –w hat now? Well, there's no sign directing them where to go. They drive down a winding access road, past three buildings, to a parking lot where a sign reads "Bail Parking." The sign faces away from the parking lot. It has no further instructions. Sometimes, sometimes, a K-9 officer notices them and directs them how to proceed, provided one is in the area and one is even on duty.

The person does not go to the front entrance, nor to the gate where the bail is actually conducted. They are to go to the women's holding facility, whether they are bailing a woman out or not. It is the least obvious entrance, again with no sign, and the most recessed of the three buildings on the road. They inform the officer at the desk that they are here to bail as well as who they are here to bail. They are instructed to go wait in bail parking.

That officer then contacts the receiving area of the jail where the bail will actually be conducted. The receiving area informs my department, either with a phone call or by sending the paperwork we need to go through up the pneumatic tube. We run the paperwork and send it back down to them. The bail clerk then calls us and we inform the bail clerk how many bails are on the property. On duty K-9 officers have us run thorough warrant, vehicle registration, and driver's license checks on every individual in the vehicle.

The first bail period coincides with the day shift getting off of work, so naturally they are asked by the confused bail parties how to go about bailing somebody out. The employees, almost universally, do not know, and direct them to bail parking without informing anybody. If nobody notices them, the bail period comes, and goes, and they are waiting there completely unnoticed. If they check in at the front entrance rather than the women's center, the officer staffing the reception area may or may not inform the appropriate areas that they are on site, so the bail period will come, and go, while they wait there completely unnoticed. If, like today, the extended game of telephone wherein they talk to one officer, who tells another officer, who tells us, who tell the bail clerk, fails by one of those people down the line not telling us, we are not able to tell the bail clerk and the bail period will come, and go, while they wait here completely unnoticed.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

Sounds efficient.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Whoa.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

That bears a striking resemblance to Kafka's "Before the Law" parable...

[Eater of Clowns]

Our Sheriff took off to Texas to witness the border crisis in person.

He is quoted as saying he would send the busloads of children away in a heartbeat, and that what we have isn't a humanitarian crisis, but a "crisis of leadership." He thinks some of them will end up in Massachusetts and we'll end up housing them at our jail.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Our Sheriff took off to Texas to witness the border crisis in person.

He is quoted as saying he would send the busloads of children away in a heartbeat, and that what we have isn't a humanitarian crisis, but a "crisis of leadership." He thinks some of them will end up in Massachusetts and we'll end up housing them at our jail.

Junkets FTW.

How did you wind up with a mini-Joe?

[Suu]

New England turns into a cesspit of assholery whenever immigration issue come up. You'd think Boston was still shellshocked from the Irish or something.

[LMNO]

It's a last bastion of unrepentant New England racism that's still relatively acceptable.

[Cain]

You know who has surprised me with the border children issue?  Glenn Beck.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-republicans-are-bordering-on-heartless/2014/07/13/cc152306-092e-11e4-8a6a-19355c7e870a_story.html

Glenn Beck says he has come under fierce attack from some of his fellow conservatives for a grave transgression.

His crime? He announced plans to bring food, water, teddy bears and soccer balls to at least some of the tens of thousands of Central American children who have crossed the border into the United States.

"Through no fault of their own, they are caught in political crossfire," Beck said. "Anyone, left or right, seeking political gain at the expense of these desperate, vulnerable, poor and suffering people are reprehensible."

Beck, not averse to a certain grandiosity, let us know that "I've never taken a position more deadly to my career than this." But assume he's right — and he may well be. It's one more sign of how the crisis at our border has brought out the very worst in our political system and a degree of plain nastiness that we should not be proud of as a nation.

When Republican talking points are to the right of Glenn Beck, you know something has gotten fucked up.

[Junkenstein]

It's actually hilarious that he's becoming too moderate for the teabillies. Great things can't help but follow.