COMMENTARY IN THE WASHINGTON JOURNAL Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 02:10:34 -0500

I wanted to share with everyone a commentary by C.T. Kruckeberg in the Washington Evening Journal July 13, 2005. He speaks volumes for the field of Emergency Telecommunications.

Sugar and Spice

I know it's traditional, it's regular, and some might not even take offense from it, but it has to stop: For the love of God, please quit calling the Communications Center workers, "the girls."

You know who you are, you public officials you. You're the ones I have to translate for the rest of the civilized public in an attempt to make you sound learned. Yours are the paraphrased nuggets you find in the paper that go something like, "he said dispatchers perform a necessary service to all emergency response crews in the county," when really the quote, in quote marks, would be something like this: "The fire, the police, the sheriff - they all need those girls in the back there."

A-Hyuk.

This at public meetings. They're not girls. Most of the Communications Center dispatchers are females; I'll give you that. Ninety-nine times out of 100, when I call 653-2107, the non-emergency dispatch line, a woman's voice greets me at the other end. But jeez, these women, who perform as integral a part in our emergency services as a paid fire truck driver does, or police officer does, or an EMT does, these women deserve, at least, to be called women. If not dispatchers, or Comm Center employees, or emergency service communications specialists. Because lets see you get back there behind all that glowing, buzzing, whirring, and flashing equipment, with a headset on, and try to give advice over the phone to the woman whose knife wound won't stop bleeding while, at the same time, attempting to direct all emergency personnel in the area to her location - when speed and accuracy matter.

Girls play tee-ball. Or the kazoo.

Girls want ponies.

Young ladies go to the prom.

Women get sophisticated jobs.

The girls. The audacity of it is stunning. You say it as if it should be typed with a capital letter, like it's some ethnic group. The Girls. Like the Asians or the Eskimos or something. When you get your capital G, apparently, you work for the Communications Center. Not to be confused with the tee-ball girls, these Girls perform an invaluable public service.

And I'll have you know one of the Girls is a boy. Or is it Boy? Kirk Bailey, who is a regular Washington Police Officer, moonlights as a dispatcher for the Communications Center. He's young, of medium height, medium build, and fit enough you wouldn't want to pick a fight with him for no reason. But apparently, he's just one of the Girls. Giggle-Giggle. You should ask him how he feels about that. Bit of advice, though: When dressed in blue with a shield over his lapel, he's generally armed.

And the Girls, they just sit there and take it. They listen as you pontificate about their Girlness and how much it means to public safety. Who are they to throw down their papers and give you a

tongue lashing for it, when you are the ones who control their budgets? I'll bet you what, though. While I can't confirm it, I'll bet they have some names for you, too.

I would.

I mean, you wouldn't - at a public meeting - go around calling the Board of Supervisors the Three Official Grey-Hairs of the County, would you? How would that sound? "The Girls in the dispatch center think the Grey-Hairs should increase the budget, " said so-and-so.

And you wouldn't call the police the Donut Squad: "Well, we'd love to approve this, but its just not in the Donut Squad's budget for fiscal 2006," he said.

Yet it's unrelenting for the Girls. "The Girls have been doing a real good job for everybody," it has been said.

And I'm not going to name names. Not yet. But get it together. This isn't a flagrant political correctness thing, you Good Old Boys. It's different than that. Call a spade a spade; I'm all for it.

What this is, rather, is a plea for decency and respect. And while you might not think that the Girls deserve the simple respect of being called by a proper name, many of us out here amongst

the civilized population thinks the Dispatchers of Washington County, not the Girls, are doing a bang-up job.