While a majority of Santa Clarita residents wake up each morning knowing what to expect at work, the dispatchers for the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Station go into work not knowing what the day may hold.

On Thursday, KHTS reporter Louie Diaz was invited by the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Station to participate in a “sit-along” in the station’s dispatch center.

The Men and Women Behind 911

As a blind reporter working in Santa Clarita, I’ve never had to run out on scene, take pictures and report back to people at the station. It’s not that I don’t want to, but, I mean, the pictures wouldn’t be that great.

Instead, I’m a self-described “scanner-hawk.” That means I contribute to the KHTS newsroom by constantly listening to police scanners and writing down what I hear.

So, on Thursday, I had the opportunity to “geek-out” and go and observe the sometimes overlooked team in the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station dispatchers office as they worked to get help to those who may be experiencing the worst day of their life.

As a dispatcher, it’s their responsibility to answer everything from frantic and relaxed 911 calls, stay calm while trying to get information from sometimes agitated or distressed callers, assign the appropriate deputies to the call, as well as making phone calls to different companies at the request of deputies in the field.

Like any business, the office can be very busy or very slow.

There are parts of the day where the phone could be ringing off the hook with a mix of 911 calls and non-emergency calls. Then, an hour later, radio traffic and phone calls could be quiet.

On the off-chance that the lines are not ringing and “quiet,” dispatchers are very careful not to jinx it.

“The ‘Q’ word is something we never say,” said James Marchman, a dispatcher for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.

On Thursday, around 2:40 p.m., deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station were involved in a police pursuit of a stolen vehicle that was carjacked out of Van Nuys.

During the chase, dispatchers were busy looking at live maps tracking the pursuit, listening for requests from deputies who were chasing the wanted suspect and then relaying information back to those in the field.

On top of all that, dispatchers still had to find time to answer other 911 calls that were coming in throughout Santa Clarita and getting them help.

What Type of Calls Are Received?

Some 911 calls are relaxed. For example, when someone notices a traffic collision and calls it in. There are no fatalities or injuries on scene, and a single unit with and tow truck can handle it.

However, there are other days where those behind the scenes have to hear difficult calls that come through to their desk and have to do their best to keep callers calm, reassuring them that help is on the way.

The hardest calls that you don’t forget are “definitely calls that involve the death of someone, whether it is because of a crime or not,” said Marchman. “I took a call where a 14-year-old girl found her mom dead in bed. It was hard because it was emotional for the kid because she didn’t really know how to handle it.”

Another aspect of the job that is hard that comes with the territory of being a dispatcher is that those in the office don’t always know how calls eventually end.

“When a deputy goes on a call they follow it until the end,” Marchman explained. “But sometimes, as a dispatcher, you don’t always find out what the final conclusion of something is.”

So while a dispatcher needs to quickly establish a sort-of relationship with the person on the other-end of the line, they oftentimes are left wondering: “Did they survive?”

How the Calls Work

“When someone calls 911 in Santa Clarita it is either going to go to California Highway Patrol or us,” said Marchman.

When Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff dispatchers receive a call that involves incidents happening on the freeway, the call will be transferred to the California Highway Patrol. And when CHP receives calls that are the sheriff’s handle, they transfer the call to the sheriff’s dispatchers.

When a caller reports a medical emergency and is in contact with who is in need of medical help, the call will be transferred to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Once the call is sent to LACoFD — depending on the call — sheriff dispatchers will monitor the call to make sure there is not a need for deputies to respond as well, according to officials

My Time With The Dispatchers

When I was at the dispatch center, I had the chance to witness firsthand some of the calls Marchman answered.

For instance, a Santa Clarita mother called 911 and requested police to respond to her home. Her autistic son was yelling and breaking things throughout the house.

While on the phone with the panicked mother, Marchman and I were both able to hear the kid in the background screaming.

Halfway through the call the mother started crying, and Marchman had to do what he could to keep her calm while gathering information to send to the responding deputies.

Although being a dispatcher could be a very stressful job, there is one thing that Marchman takes from it.

“Sometimes people are having the worst day of their life and I can help make a difference,” he said.

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