Police Dept. hires three in communications

The Poplar Bluff Police Department’s communications division is nearly back to full staff after recent retirements cut the number of dispatchers in half.

Three new communications officers have been hired to replace longtime employees, Kim Johnson, Reva Wilburn and Kelly Skaggs.

Johnson retired Aug. 26, Wilburn Nov. 12 and Skaggs on Jan. 8. The three had a combined total of 61 years of experience with the department.

A fourth, Dena Johnson, transferred in early August from communications into an executive assistant position after the retirement of Karen Coleman.

“Since Aug. 4, we have been short in communications,” which has caused excessive overtime, said Dave Williams, who replaced Kim Johnson as chief communications officer.

“At one time, we were down to five people for a week and a half to cover four shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Williams explained. “I think every single one of us worked five, six or seven days in a row that week.”

To cover the shifts, Williams said, Dena Johnson has been relied on, as have officers, such as Austin Lemonds and Joey Woodruff, both of whom are former communications officers.

“In fact, (Dena Johnson) is on the schedule four or five times this month,” he said.

Although three have been hired — Courtney Peck (Aug. 26), Rachel Lewis (Oct. 30) and Heidi Penn (Dec. 30) — only Peck has completed her training and time with her CTO (communications training officer).

“We require eight weeks of training,” followed by eight weeks of working with a CTO, Williams said. “Even if you’re hired in January, it’s 16 weeks” before the person can work on his or her own.

Lewis, Williams said, will complete with CTO time in late February. It will be late March/early April before Penn is on her own.

“We have applications on file to get a replacement for Kelly,” said Williams, who expects it will be summer before that position is filled and training is complete.

Lewis, Williams said, had experience as a dispatcher when she started, previously having worked for the Butler County Sheriff’s Department.

“She fell right in here; the only thing we had to teach Rachel is how we did it as far as paperwork and things like that,” Williams said.

“We got to fast track her (Lewis) a little bit” since she didn’t have to be trained on MULES (Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System), Williams said. “That was helpful to us,” but she still “can’t sit on her own” even if “this is the job she’s done” until her CTO time is done.

That, he said, is the department’s policy.

Peck also had prior dispatch experience while working at Butler County EMS, but it was not emergency medical dispatching.

“Yes, she could answer the phone, talk on the radio,” Williams said. “Every call is different. That dispatching (EMS) is different than this dispatching.”

Unlike Lewis and Peck, Williams said, Penn had no prior experience. Her background is as a wildlife biologist and pilot.

For new and seasoned dispatchers alike, Williams said, time off is important as theirs is a “high-stress job.”

When it comes to scheduling, Williams said, his assistant chief communications officer, Holly Lewis, tries to give everyone two days off in a row.

“The first day, you chill out, veg out because you have just got off five or six days of 10-hour shifts; 60 hours, that’s tough,” Williams said.

The goal, he said, is to limit the schedules to five days unless there are extenuating circumstances of illness, death in a family or whatever it may be.

“I don’t like disrupting people’s lives,” Williams said. “We try to keep a schedule of normal hours as much as possible.

“ … I don’t want my overnight people that’s worked two to three nights, turn around (for a) 6 (a.m. shift). I don’t want my 6 o’clock people working overnight.”

While on duty, Williams said, dispatchers have “split seconds” to make decisions, and the best choices at that time.

“We have to understand as dispatchers what is not an emergency to us, it is to the person who made the call,” Williams said.

In 2019, Williams said, dispatchers answered 26,901 911 calls, as well as 67,189 non-emergency calls.

Williams said the dispatchers also handled 866 accident reports. That number, he said, did not include private-property accidents.

The dispatchers, he said, also sent officers to 25,451 calls and firefighters to 944 incidents.

“During this time, we will enter warrants, missing people, stolen plates, guns, etc.,” said Williams, who recently entered a stolen vehicle and warrant within his first 30 minutes on duty.

Williams said the dispatchers also constantly are updating the department’s business directory with proper addresses and contact information, as well as providing information to officers on traffic stops.

“We’re double staffed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.” each day to cover all the tasks, Williams said.

All of the dispatchers, new and old, as well as all the officers in the department, will soon have to learn MULES 5, which, Williams said, is expected to be rolled out in late January.

The software, which now is owned by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, is a “whole new program” that everybody department wide will have to be trained on, Williams said.