Critical connection

WASILLA — The Mat-Com Public Safety Dispatch center handles thousands of emergency and non-emergency calls every year in the Mat-Su Valley.

As Wasilla’s records and communications manager, Daniel Stearns oversees the emergency dispatch response services for the center that dispatches police and emergency responders for Wasilla, Houston and Alaska State Troopers.

As an experienced 911 and call center dispatcher and manager, Stearns talks about the call center and being on the front lines of emergency response.

Frontiersman: You say emergency and non-emergency. Most people equate dispatch to the 911 emergency response system. What’s the difference?

Daniel Stearns: Probably so, but there are a lot of non-emergency things that get reported as well. For example, burglary is a crime, but maybe it happened a couple days before, but it’s still a crime and police need to respond.

F: 911 is the main emergency conduit. On average, how many 911 calls will you handle at Mat-Com Public Safety Dispatch?

S: We respond to them all, even if they are not an emergency. Last year in 2008 there were just under 30,000 911 dialed in the Mat-Su Borough. Of those, just over 50 percent were handled by Mat-Com. We have 18 dispatchers and three call takers.

F: What’s the most common 911 call you receive?

S: I would say traffic accidents, and it’s probably more closely related to the proliferation of cell phones and the people who witness an accident or see the aftermath and make a 911 call.

F: How long have you been in the dispatch business?

S: 14 years.

F: In those years, is there any specific call that stands out as particularly memorable?

S: There are so many. I personally took the 911 call from the pastor in Big Lake who shot and killed someone. The Aaron Rogers, Jr. call and the murder that happened there.

F: What skills does a dispatcher need to possess to be successful?

S: Dispatchers here have as their main responsibilities to effect a safe response by those responding, and also to help ensure public safety. To do that, we have to identify the aggressors, identify any known weapons and identify any victims and where they are. … We do that by getting descriptions and giving instructions, to a degree. If a female is home alone and someone is at the door, OK, is there a safe place for you to go? Can you get out of your house? Do you know your neighbors? Is there someone we can call for you? Give them some options.

Q: People can abuse the 911 system. How does that affect the response for legitimate calls?

F: It’s never good to dial 911 for something less than an emergency, and an emergency should be defined as an immediate threat to life and property. There’s some subjectivity in all that; is there an immediate threat? It’s all predicated on the perception that’s in that person’s mind at that time. The call taker’s going to collect enough information to put a priority on that call.

Q: What’s the wackiest call you can remember getting?

F: There are times when people are less than stable and hallucinate and see things, so it’s not good policy to repeat someone’s mental status. There was a lady who called 911 once who said there were some clowns out in the woods watching her house. Somebody else called 911 and reported there was a dead cat in the parking lot of Burger King.

Q: How do you keep your morale and motivation up dealing with emergencies and crisis situations all the time?

F: Individual people have ways to respond to that — hobbies, families, faith, exercise, getting out and doing things. They stay active and keep their minds on other things. People will immerse themselves in different things, usually outdoor activities and faith things.

Q: Talk about a time when you got off a call and thought, “Wow, I just helped save a life.”

F: This particular individual was suicidal and any help, any resource, was days away (because he was in rural Alaska), so it was just me and him. We found some common ground and talked about things that interested him, and after about 45 minutes on the phone we got to a point where it was mutually agreed he wasn’t going to hurt himself. I guess I’ll never know what really happened, but that was one when I got off the phone and went, “Wow.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.