Police Suggestion Dispatch Suggestion

[JeanMacron]

Brief description of idea: Bring back Senior Dispatcher rank

What benefits would this idea have for the department:

- In my experience as dispatcher I often find the ability to broadcast messages from the PLPD could be useful. I would like the Senior Dispatchers to be able to make these broadcasts.

- A secondary and more senior rank would give incentive for people to play as dispatch, which would in my opinion be better as police RP on the whole improves when someone is actively co-ordinating police units.

- I find that new dispatchers are put off by the dispatch UI and struggle to understand it. A Senior Dispatcher could be responsible for helping out new players by showing them the ropes and ins and outs of the dispatch role.

- Currently I believe dispatchers are equivalent to Sergeant in terms of rank hierarchy. Could the Senior Dispatcher have a higher equivalent rank hierarchy? At times I find ranks > Sergeant can fail to observe standard radio protocols and it can damage police roleplay as they set a bad example for other units to observe. This then makes dispatch a bit harder as communication tends to fall apart, and could overwhelm new dispatchers who feel unable to question higher ranking officers. The Senior Dispatcher could step up to encourage better RP in situations like this.

- Could Senior Dispatchers be given permission to set warrants on suspects? I often find that there are not enough high ranking officers online and any warrants which need to be set cannot be set, ultimately resulting in the PLPD failing to capture suspects who are actively comitting crimes.

What potential negatives could this have for the department:

- Head of Department or other appropriate rank would have to take responsibility for selecting, observing, and managing Senior Dispatchers

Other additions:

Could playing as Dispatch lead to promotions in the police department? This would require some stricter criteria and perhaps be capped at a certain rank, but at the moment I play dispatcher quite a lot and do not have the opportunity to progress further than Senior Officer. However, I believe that the qualities and knowledge required to properly play as a dispatcher are equivalent to ranks higher than Senior Officer.

 

[DJ Conyo]

-support
no sorry man, I was senior dispatcher a time ago, and to get senior dispatcher to make broadcasts? Nah let's actually not make a new rank for that. Otherwise make it so dispatchers can make broadcasts apartly from that. How can u find a completely new dispatcher and a senior dispatcher at the same time online and how do u know if he needs help. If he doesn't know how it works he just asks around. but creating a whole new part that got kicked out earlier again, is kinda bad in my opinion

 

[JeanMacron]

-support
no sorry man, I was senior dispatcher a time ago, and to get senior dispatcher to make broadcasts? Nah let's actually not make a new rank for that. Otherwise make it so dispatchers can make broadcasts apartly from that. How can u find a completely new dispatcher and a senior dispatcher at the same time online and how do u know if he needs help. If he doesn't know how it works he just asks around. but creating a whole new part that got kicked out earlier again, is kinda bad in my opinion

I believe allowing dispatchers to make broadcasts would be unsuitable. New players or inexperienced dispatchers could make questionable broadcasts. Having access to broadcast locked behind a rank requirement would help to avoid bad broadcasts.

In terms of finding a new dispatcher and senior dispatcher at the same time, it is not out of the realm of possibility. The Dispatch handbook currently assumes that there would be up to 4 dispatchers online in the form of Primary comms, secondary comms, 911 handler and CCTV operator. This is not the case in-game, but perhaps the Senior Dispatcher rank would incentivise people to work their way up the dispatch chain as people work their way up the PLPD chain of command so more people would fill out these roles. Additionally, I often find new players who want to dip their toes into the PLPD firstly by becoming a dispatcher prior to joining as an officer. In fact, this is how I started myself. When a new player in this exact situation appears in the dispatch room while I am playing, they often sit down, become confused, then swiftly leave. I have witnessed this at least 3 or 4 times. This should be a clear indicator that they need help, and often they do not have the confidence to say 'I have no idea what I am doing. Help'. A senior dispatcher would be automatically responsible for helping them, which would introduce more people into the dispatch system and as I mentioned in the original post encourage higher quality RP.

Regarding your point of Senior Dispatcher being previously removed, as far as I could tell from the Dispatch handbook it was primarily to act as an administrator in accepting/rejecting dispatch applications. I believe dispatch applications are now automated so it would not be similar in responsibility to what you previously experienced.

 

[DJ Conyo]

I believe allowing dispatchers to make broadcasts would be unsuitable. New players or inexperienced dispatchers could make questionable broadcasts. Having access to broadcast locked behind a rank requirement would help to avoid bad broadcasts.

U realise broadcasts are only being made if officers are requesting it.
and if a dispatcher does not like to say that he doesn't know what he is doing, then creating a new rank would totally not help lol

 

[JeanMacron]

U realise broadcasts are only being made if officers are requesting it.
and if a dispatcher does not like to say that he doesn't know what he is doing, then creating a new rank would totally not help lol

Not sure if you're trolling me or not. If not, I suggest you begin to fully read and understand my replies before replying again.

At what point did I claim I wanted to make broadcasts willy nilly? Officers who are unable to broadcast often make request for broadcasts to be made, for example to alert road users of a vehicle abandoned on the highway which is being towed by road crew and to slow down.

As a reminder of what I posted above in relation to new dispatchers needing help:

In the event that a new player struggles to grasp the concepts, a senior dispatcher would be automatically responsible for helping them. To reiterate, it would be a role responsibility for the Senior Dispatcher to identify struggling new dispatchers and help them to understand where to start.

 

[CensoredExe]

Currently I believe dispatchers are equivalent to Sergeant in terms of rank hierarchy

They are equivalent to LT last I checked

Also, when there was a senior dispatcher role, there was also a head dispatcher, that was in charge of the department, something that could be considered if this was brought back.

 

[JeanMacron]

They are equivalent to LT last I checked

Also, when there was a senior dispatcher role, there was also a head dispatcher, that was in charge of the department, something that could be considered if this was brought back.

Ah thanks for clarifying. I believe the link to the dispatch handbook is currently broken so I'm unable to check for certainty. Nonetheless, I think this adds to the proposed Senior Dispatcher role. Could the Senior Dispatch be equivalent to Lt and the normal entry level Dispatch role be equivalent to Sergeant? Might add a bit more structure to the dispatch ranks.

I like the idea for a head dispatcher, could definitely add some further progression for people and helps to sort out the negative I suggested that someone would need to decide how to acquire senior dispatcher etc. I believe the current Chief of Dispatch is Mcglinchy so they would probably have some further suggestions in how to properly implement this sort of thing should the suggestion be accepted.

 

[money]

Dispatcher is not currently being actively worked on, and while this doesn't completely remove the option of it being added, this is the response from Momo fairly recently:

"At least until the new plpd online is released dispatch not actively being worked on. As for now dispatch will most likely remain the way it is right now until we get a better tool to manage it."

Senior Dispatcher would be nice. Correct me if I am wrong, but can't you do /pbc as dispatcher? I somewhat recall doing it as SO while being a Dispatcher.

"Currently I believe dispatchers are equivalent to Sergeant in terms of rank hierarchy. Could the Senior Dispatcher have a higher equivalent rank hierarchy? At times I find ranks > Sergeant can fail to observe standard radio protocols and it can damage police roleplay as they set a bad example for other units to observe. This then makes dispatch a bit harder as communication tends to fall apart, and could overwhelm new dispatchers who feel unable to question higher ranking officers. The Senior Dispatcher could step up to encourage better RP in situations like this."

Radio protocol is not something that you are taught when doing your officer application, as it doesn't assume a dispatcher will be available. New officers need to be taught this. If you see officers who have this knowledge but fail to utilize it, confront them about it politely and ask them to follow it.
Shall this issue persist, assign a supervisor to deal with them, explaining what the Officer is doing wrong and how this can be obstructing the direction of emergency services.
If a Sergeant or any other supervisor is failing to adhere to proper communication, assign a higher rank, if available, to deal with it.
If not, please do proceed to collect relevant (video) evidence and make an IA.

 

[JeanMacron]

Dispatcher is not currently being actively worked on, and while this doesn't completely remove the option of it being added, this is the response from Momo fairly recently:

"At least until the new plpd online is released dispatch not actively being worked on. As for now dispatch will most likely remain the way it is right now until we get a better tool to manage it."

Senior Dispatcher would be nice. Correct me if I am wrong, but can't you do /pbc as dispatcher? I somewhat recall doing it as SO while being a Dispatcher.



Radio protocol is not something that you are taught when doing your officer application, as it doesn't assume a dispatcher will be available. New officers need to be taught this. If you see officers who have this knowledge but fail to utilize it, confront them about it politely and ask them to follow it.
Shall this issue persist, assign a supervisor to deal with them, explaining what the Officer is doing wrong and how this can be obstructing the direction of emergency services.
If a Sergeant or any other supervisor is failing to adhere to proper communication, assign a higher rank, if available, to deal with it.
If not, please do proceed to collect relevant (video) evidence and make an IA.

I tried /pbc again just to be sure, and I definitely can't use it.

Regarding radio protocol, there's not a serious problem at all. Just a few issues here and there which I thought a Senior Dispatcher would be responsible for trying to sort out if it was added as I feel like a new dispatcher would not be confident enough to. Overall new officers actually adopt the radio system really well when there is a dispatcher on. I think setting a good example helps to guide people 90% of the time, and I think adding senior dispatcher may encourage more dispatchers to play which would make police rp a bit more interesting.

Cheers for the feedback duke!!!

 

[Sneaky]

Dispatchers do everything but dispatch nowadays, giving them less shit to do makes them dispatch more. Units on scene know what is the smart course of action to take in various scenario's, what to close off, what to broadcast to civvies. It's not dispatch job to babysit officers, and I feel having a broadcast function would just encourage that more.

Why do you need a higher rank too? That would encourage the same babysitting behavior when you are supposed to maintain comms, assign calls and watch cameras. If higher UPS dont follow radio protocol, you just insult their mother.

 

[JeanMacron]

Dispatchers do everything but dispatch nowadays, giving them less shit to do makes them dispatch more. Units on scene know what is the smart course of action to take in various scenario's, what to close off, what to broadcast to civvies. It's not dispatch job to babysit officers, and I feel having a broadcast function would just encourage that more.

Why do you need a higher rank too? That would encourage the same babysitting behavior when you are supposed to maintain comms, assign calls and watch cameras. If higher UPS dont follow radio protocol, you just insult their mother.

I disagree that dispatchers do not dispatch nowadays. Good dispatchers do not baby sit people, so not sure what you are getting at there. I agree that units do know what to do, but in the event that a high enough ranking officer is not online I believe that dispatch should have more abilities to perform menial tasks like broadcasts.

The original post describes the reasons a higher rank may be required, and has been discussed in various other posts already. I think that a higher rank is required mainly to lock the ability to broadcast behind the rank so that only competent dispatchers can access it. In previous suggestions, the ability to broadcast was denied to prevent new players misusing it. I believe locking the ability behind a higher rank solves this issue.

 

[Freedor]

i made a suggestion about dispatch and it was denied because fuck dispatch i guess. dispatch could be really fun but it needs structure, and a competent person to lead it. i personally enjoy doing dispatch but every time i do its always either a new officer or LT+ screaming obscenities over the radio. if someone who knew how to dispatch ran it i think it could be on the same level of professionalism as patrol or literally any other part of pd. +support because a coc is necessary

 

[JeanMacron]

i made a suggestion about dispatch and it was denied because fuck dispatch i guess. dispatch could be really fun but it needs structure, and a competent person to lead it. i personally enjoy doing dispatch but every time i do its always either a new officer or LT+ screaming obscenities over the radio. if someone who knew how to dispatch ran it i think it could be on the same level of professionalism as patrol or literally any other part of pd. +support because a coc is necessary

Agree it could be more fun with a bit more structure. I find that for the most part the majority of police are respectful when a dispatcher is trying to manage everything nowadays as well. Regarding a competent leader, I think the current chief of the dispatch department is suitable but as it stands there isn't very much for them to do as far as I can tell. With improvements to dispatch, I think it would bring a bit of depth to the department similar to other branches within the PLPD.

 

[ASRox]

There is no Chief of Dispatch, the Chief ranks oversee the entire department, not single divisions (see: https://plpd.online/contacts/). Dispatch now runs itself since since basically all command members were useless and Dispatch died due to a severe lack of interest from the player base. A command position would be redundant, but that does not mean small suggestions won't be worked on. McGlinchy technically holds the rank of Head of Dispatch, but that is not his actual position

I personally see no issue with allowing all Dispatchers to use the /pbc function. It would help Officers who don't have access to it by letting them request one from Dispatch, it would also fairly simple to implement.

As it stands, iirc, Dispatchers who hold the necessary ranks to create broadcasts and warrants can already do so, so if you personally wanted to make /pbc's, consider applying for RTU, lol. Pretty sure you should be able to use the feature by way of being an RTU division member

 

[Efan]

@Ellie

 

[Ellie]

@Ellie

Thanks for the tag!

More than one of the suggestions are already on the list, so be patient for some new updates ^^

 

[Efan]

Thanks for the tag!

More than one of the suggestions are already on the list, so be patient for some new updates ^^

Would you like this closed?

 

[Ellie]

Would you like this closed?

Senior dispatcher is getting worked on as we speak, so you can close this. Thank you