NEWS
Wednesday, april 10, 2019
HerMisTOnHerald.COM • A7
Dispatchers on the line for drug bust
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
T
hey sit at desks for their
entire shift, but Uma-
tilla County Dispatch-
ers become closely famil-
iar with almost every public safety
incident in the county.
Justin Russell, a sergeant
with Umatilla County Sheriff’s
Office Communications Division,
recalled one of their busiest days
in recent memory — when local
law enforcement enacted Opera-
tion Wildfire, a massive drug bust
that resulted in nearly 60 arrests.
“There were lots of arrests, and
all that was dispatched through
here by me and Sgt. (Karen) Prim-
mer,” he said. “We were here for
14 hours and dispatching pretty
much solid the whole time.”
As officers from the Blue
Mountain Enforcement Narcotics
Team and local police contacted
people associated with the opera-
tion, the dispatch team was back at
the office listening and connecting
the dots. Each time law enforce-
ment contacted someone to arrest
them, dispatchers had to go and
physically make sure they had that
warrant.
“We are the piece of the puzzle
that has custody of the warrant,”
he said. “When they contact some-
body, we have to make sure we
actually have that warrant.”
Even if they aren’t swamped
with calls, dispatchers are con-
stantly thinking on their feet, as
they take in 911 calls from 25 dif-
ferent law enforcement and emer-
staff photo by e.J. Harris
Umatilla County Sheriff’s Department dispatcher Justine Griffith talks with a caller in 2017 at the Umatilla County
Justice Center in Pendleton.
gency medical agencies around the
county.
The dispatch center has 17 full-
time employees, as well as three
sergeants and a captain. When a
call comes in, a dispatcher’s first
job is to get the basics of the call
— where the call is coming from,
the reason for the call, and if there
are any weapons involved. They
learn police codes and emergency
medical terms, and are responsible
for getting information to the right
ing them in CPR. The emotional
component of helping someone
through those experiences can take
a toll on dispatchers, too.
Jennifer Bostwick has worked
as a paramedic for 28 years, and as
a dispatcher for seven. The Pend-
leton native has done that job
on rural island communities in
Alaska, cities in Texas, and around
the state of Oregon. She has been
with Umatilla County dispatch
since July.
parties.
“There’s a lot of moving parts,”
Russell said.
The job requires extensive
training, but parts of it can only
be taught by experience. Dispatch-
ers take non-emergency calls, and
learn how to document and enter
information into one of the many
systems they use. But they also
have to talk people through some
difficult moments — whether help-
ing them deliver a baby or instruct-
Bostwick said she is most com-
fortable in emergency medical dis-
patching, because that’s where her
background is.
“EMS, rescue, structure fire
calls,” she said. “I feel more com-
fortable because I’ve been on
the ground with those calls. Law
enforcement is a newer addition to
me, and it’s far more busy.”
She said one feature of this
area is the amount of mutual aid
available.
“The different departments kind
of overlap with each other,” she
said. “Here we have Pendleton
Police, Hermiston Police, OSP is
another layer. That’s different than
being on an island.”
Though the dispatchers deal
with a range of calls, Russell said
there’s always something new
coming in.
“Recently we had a plane crash
in Hermiston,” he said. “That’s a
pretty rare occurrence. We do a lot
of training for scenarios like that.”
He said that training helped
them act quickly, and get people on
the scene within minutes. No one
was injured, and everything went
well.
Bostwick added that the job
takes lots of ongoing training.
“Just today, we were learning
how to help people when they’re
lost, and they call on 911, how to
drop pins,” she said. “We went to a
tactical dispatch class last year, and
learned from each other.”
“I learn something new every
day,” she said.
National Dispatch Week is from
April 14 to 20.
Tony Orlando comes knocking at Wildhorse Workshop training available
A familiar voice from the
‘70s will take the stage at
Wildhorse Resort & Casino.
Tony Orlando’s 1973
hit, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon
‘Round the Ole Oak Tree,”
became his theme song. The
familiar anthem of hope,
homecoming, reunion and
renewal was the No. 1 Bill-
board song of the year. Other
top hits by Orlando include
“Knock Three Times,”
“Candida,” “He Don’t Love
You (Like I Love You)” and
“My Sweet Gypsy Rose.”
Orlando will perform live
in concert Saturday, April
20 at 8 p.m. in the Rivers
Event Center, located off
Interstate 84, Exit 216, Mis-
sion. A no-host bar will be
available.
The “Tony Orlando and
Dawn” TV variety show
ran from 1973-77 on CBS.
It catapulted the duo from
popular recording artists
into major stars. They rank
among the Top 100 Bill-
board Magazine artists of
all-time.
Orlando is the recipient
of three American Music
Awards and two People’s
Choice Awards for best male
entertainer. In addition, he
was awarded a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
for his achievements in the
entertainment industry.
Tickets for the 21-and-
older show are $49-$69
and can be purchased via
the Wildhorse Gift Shop or
www.wildhorseresort.com.
Veterans and active mili-
tary personnel can receive a
20 percent discount for up to
four tickets when buying at
the gift shop.
UPCOMING EVENTS
to area teachers
Area high school teach-
ers have an opportunity
to participate in an all-ex-
pense paid workshop in
Massachusetts.
Participants during the 2
1/2 day training will learn
how to use the Harvard
Case Study Method devel-
oped by Professor David
Moss of the Harvard Busi-
ness School. The League
of Women Voters of Ore-
Orlando
gon are sponsoring the
trip, which will take place
in August. The local chap-
ter will nominate one high
school teacher — with a
focus on U.S. history, gov-
ernment or civics — from
each district in Umatilla
and Morrow counties to
participate.
For more information,
contact Toni Lampkin at
tonilampkin@gmail.com.
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