|
|
|
Sugar Creek, MO —
One call for service, tragic event or outstanding performance doesn’t define Krystal Thompson’s work as an overnight dispatcher in Sugar Creek.
It’s the seconds, minutes and hours that Thompson gives during her 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shifts that add up, says one of her supervisors, Sugar Creek Police Department Sgt. Virginia DeBoard.
And so, most appropriately, Thompson received the Everyday Hero 2012 Outstanding Performance Award in mid-April from the Mid-America Regional Council. Only two of the Everyday Hero honors were given across the Kansas City area, and the second award went to Master Deputy Alison Anderson with the Johnson County (Kan.) Sheriff’s Office.
“You can listen to our department’s radio traffic at night, and Krystal doesn’t miss a beat, a voice, a key stroke while transcribing, or dealing with people in the lobby, confirming warrants, running licenses and people, calling for a tow – and don’t forget our agency handles fire and medical calls on top of the busy officers and complaining citizens,” DeBoard wrote in her nomination letter.
For Thompson, DeBoard said, the strenuous multi-tasking required of working as a Sugar Creek dispatcher is just business as usual. Her colleagues refer to Thompson as the transcription extraordinaire; the proofreading and grammar police; the stoplight camera administrator; a fire extinguisher, at times; and, above all, the birthday-cupcake maker.
But Thompson, 29, didn’t necessarily set out for a career as a dispatcher. Before she started seven years ago, Thompson says the job was one she didn’t know anything about, until she heard about a position opening while baby-sitting Sugar Creek Police Chief Herb Soule’s grandson.
“A lot of people don’t know,” Thompson said of what it takes to work as a dispatcher, “because you don’t really think about them.”
Working as a dispatcher in a small town like Sugar Creek is different from working the same role in a larger city, such as Independence or Blue Springs, Soule said. Callers want to know their dispatchers – like Thompson, herself a native of Sugar Creek – by first name, Soule said.
Dispatchers in Sugar Creek also are expected to juggle multiple roles at once, besides just taking calls, Soule said, and the pay isn’t always that great.
“Krystal could step across the southern curb of our city and make $10,000 more a year,” he said. “You have to work harder to get the quality of people, and you have to work harder to keep them.”
One call for service, tragic event or outstanding performance doesn’t define Krystal Thompson’s work as an overnight dispatcher in Sugar Creek.
It’s the seconds, minutes and hours that Thompson gives during her 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shifts that add up, says one of her supervisors, Sugar Creek Police Department Sgt. Virginia DeBoard.
And so, most appropriately, Thompson received the Everyday Hero 2012 Outstanding Performance Award in mid-April from the Mid-America Regional Council. Only two of the Everyday Hero honors were given across the Kansas City area, and the second award went to Master Deputy Alison Anderson with the Johnson County (Kan.) Sheriff’s Office.
“You can listen to our department’s radio traffic at night, and Krystal doesn’t miss a beat, a voice, a key stroke while transcribing, or dealing with people in the lobby, confirming warrants, running licenses and people, calling for a tow – and don’t forget our agency handles fire and medical calls on top of the busy officers and complaining citizens,” DeBoard wrote in her nomination letter.
For Thompson, DeBoard said, the strenuous multi-tasking required of working as a Sugar Creek dispatcher is just business as usual. Her colleagues refer to Thompson as the transcription extraordinaire; the proofreading and grammar police; the stoplight camera administrator; a fire extinguisher, at times; and, above all, the birthday-cupcake maker.
But Thompson, 29, didn’t necessarily set out for a career as a dispatcher. Before she started seven years ago, Thompson says the job was one she didn’t know anything about, until she heard about a position opening while baby-sitting Sugar Creek Police Chief Herb Soule’s grandson.
“A lot of people don’t know,” Thompson said of what it takes to work as a dispatcher, “because you don’t really think about them.”
Working as a dispatcher in a small town like Sugar Creek is different from working the same role in a larger city, such as Independence or Blue Springs, Soule said. Callers want to know their dispatchers – like Thompson, herself a native of Sugar Creek – by first name, Soule said.
Dispatchers in Sugar Creek also are expected to juggle multiple roles at once, besides just taking calls, Soule said, and the pay isn’t always that great.
“Krystal could step across the southern curb of our city and make $10,000 more a year,” he said. “You have to work harder to get the quality of people, and you have to work harder to keep them.”
Thompson also is a communications training officer and she transcribes interviews – word for word, as required by the court system – to aid in the prosecution of criminals.
“In the past few months, our agency has had several incidents involving children and interviews,” DeBoard wrote. “Krystal has taken a very professional and diligent approach in dealing with the horrible crimes committed against the children. As she has learned over time, police work isn’t always pretty. She is viewed as being part of a team, remaining flexible and respectful, all while completing any tasks put in front of her.”
Several dispatchers tried transcribing the interviews, but often left out the necessary “ums” and “uhs” – but Thompson “picked up the ball and ran with it,” Sugar Creek Police Capt. Dick Hodges said.
“When you’re talking about multi-talented,” Hodges said, “her hats would fill up the table here.”
While all of the dispatchers in Sugar Creek give the job their all, Soule said, he’s known Thompson her entire life and has observed her morals and personality. The multi-tasking and stress put upon Sugar Creek dispatchers “can be horrible,” Soule said.
“I could not dispatch and do Krystal’s job,” Soule said. “I could 20 years ago, but it’s just grown more complex over the years.”
Thompson said she still clings to aspirations of going back to school one day and earning a degree, but in what field, she says, she is unsure.
At one point, Soule tried talking Thompson into joining the police academy.
“I still haven’t given up,” Soule said, “but she doesn’t know if it’s for her.”
Hodges makes a joke, from Thompson’s point-of-view, to which she laughs at quietly and slowly nods her head.
“I don’t know if I could let any dispatcher tell me what to do.”
