Join our dispatchers for a World Cup shift

It’s 10.50pm and the control room at police headquarters in Durham is eerily quiet, except for the sound of typing and the whirring of dozens of desk fans working overtime to try and cool the sticky, humid air.

Dispatchers Hilary and Angela are nearly four hours into their 12-hour shift – they’re looking after officers in the east of the county this evening, while their colleagues oversee officers in the west, south, Darlington, and traffic.  

Dispatchers play a pivotal role in ensuing our officers are there when the public need them the most. They operate behind the scenes, but it is their responsibility to review the most serious incidents across County Durham and Darlington, and then quickly and effectively deploy appropriate resources.

They’ve already dealt with a huge range of different incidents so far this shift, including shopliftings, multiple domestic incidents, a public order incident in Murton, a large fight in Durham involving several drunk people, concerns for the welfare of a woman in Chester-le-Street, and a drug driver who has been spotted swerving across the road heading towards Hetton-le-Hole. He is intercepted by officers, drug wiped – which comes back positive – and arrested. Checks reveal he had been released from custody just that morning in another force area for driving while under the influence.

But for now, while Thomas Tuchel's men play the final minutes a goalless match against Ghana, it seems everyone is tucked safely inside watching the World Cup, giving the call handlers and dispatchers a few moments of peace to get caught up on outstanding jobs.

That peace is short-lived – the clock strikes 11pm marking the end of the match, and the atmosphere within the control room quickly changes. Immediate jobs – ones which require urgent officer attendance as an emergency risk to life or property has been identified - begin to pop up on the dispatchers’ screens; a man has been punched in the face in Durham City and may be unconscious, reports of a group of rowdy youths gathering in Seaham Harbour, a domestic incident in Wingate, reports that a car has gone into the front of a shop in Blackhall Colliery, concern for the welfare of a two-year-old boy in Ludworth.

Within minutes, nearly all available officers across the east of the county are allocated to incidents. One such job is a report of a man sat naked in a bus stop in Durham City allegedly performing a sex act. Officers attend on an immediate response and, thankfully, find all is not as first reported.

“He has his boxers on. He’s just had a bit too much to drink and taken his clothes off in the heat. We’ll tidy him up and ensure he gets home,” reports an officer over the radio.

For the next few hours, the dispatchers work tirelessly to stem the seemingly endless stream of immediate jobs that are coming through for officer deployment. “It’s only a Tuesday night, but it feels like a weekend,” says Hilary, as she sends officers to check on a hotel in the centre of Durham City following reports that three men were trashing one of the rooms.

It’s only as the sky begins to lighten and the very first slithers of the morning sun emerge over the horizon do the steady stream of calls begin to die down, giving Hilary and Angela the chance to catch their breath.

Dispatchers work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to ensure that our officers are in the right place at the right time, helping those who need it most. They also play a critical role in looking after the welfare of officers on the frontline, ensuring that we know where our officers are, that we have enough officers on scene to safely deal with an incident, and securing backup for them from other nearby resources.

In the space of 24 hours, our force control room received 391 999 calls and 616 non-emergency calls, resulting in 111 deployments to immediate response incidents.

Behind every deployment are dispatchers, like Hilary and Angela, who work tirelessly to keep Durham Constabulary moving. They may not always be seen, but their impact is felt across the force day in, day out.