Working -- Shawn Schmaltz

Story by Lolita Harper; photo by [tk]

SHE IS

The voice you hear when you need help the most

THE ‘SERVE’ PART OF ‘TO SERVE AND PROTECT’

Shawn Schmaltz, 33, wears a headset and sits in front of two enormous

computer screens that light up with various colors with every call.

Depending on which line is flashing, she could be answering a call

about an attempted murder or an inquiry about a parking ticket.

Schmaltz has been a dispatcher at the Newport Beach Police Department

for three years. She worked in the same capacity for the Orange County

Sheriff’s Department for four years as well.

Schmaltz loves her job despite the high level of stress involved. She

feels best when she helps people but said most of the calls pertain to

barking dogs and bar fights. Patience is a definite job requirement, she

said.

People who call are often flustered and become impatient when asked

too many questions, she said. Most callers don’t understand the phone

system, she said. Dispatchers do not have access to the phone number and

location of every incoming call.

“Callers assume we know everything about them, but we don’t. They get

frustrated and start yelling. We have great technology, but we still

depend on basic human communication,” Schmaltz said.

ALL GUTS, SOME GLORY

Despite the high amount of nonemergency calls she receives, Schmaltz

must still be ready for the worst at a moment’s notice.

While working for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Schmaltz

received a call from a man in another county whose sister was attempting

suicide. All he knew, he told Schmaltz, was that his sister was at some

hotel in Orange County. After advising him to look for clues around the

woman’s house, the man found a brochure for a Holiday Inn.

Schmaltz placed calls to every Holiday Inn in the Orange County area.

After about an hour’s search, she found the hotel in Costa Mesa where the

woman had checked in. Schmaltz sent paramedics to the scene.

She told the brother they had found his sister and hung up the phone.

It wasn’t until then that she realized she was shaking and she started

crying.

“You take a lot and think you’re all tough and bad, but certain calls

just get to you and you have to have a release,” she said.

After she composed herself, the brother called her back to tell her

that his sister was alive and in the hospital. He thanked her for saving

her sister’s life.

In most cases, however, the callers never know whom they are talking

to. They merely rely on dispatchers to send the emergency services that

are needed.

“This is definitely the no-glory part of police work,” she said.