Why I Started Dispatch.gold

I grew up watching a 1990s television show called Rescue 911. Hosted by entertainment legend William Shatner, it featured reenactments of real emergency 911 calls. The show focused on the dispatchers; they were the ones who were incident command for the first several minutes, coordinating a response and providing help to those on scene, even if they weren’t physically there.

As a broadcast journalist in the 1990s and early 2000s, I sat in a newsroom surrounded by police and fire scanners. I realized, during that time, how much difference a skilled dispatcher could make. How they could piece together fragments of information from multiple sources, paint a clear picture of what was happening, and send the right help to the right place. It was a delicate dance, keeping everyone connected and working toward the same goal. Dispatchers were the glue that held every incident together.

True story: I got the phone call hiring me for my first dispatcher job on September 11, 2001. Talk about an unforgettable and sadly poetic day to step into public safety. From the beginning, I understood that dispatchers are the connective tissue of emergency response. We’re the link that holds the system together when things are falling apart.

I’ve worked day shifts, swing shifts, and night shifts. I’ve dispatched for fire departments, law enforcement, paramedics, and mental health responders. I’ve taken thousands upon thousands of emergency calls. Like you, I’ve felt the weight of those moments that change lives. I have a passion for the job and the highest amount of respect for those who actually take emergency calls, dispatch responders, and keep calm and professional when everything around them isn’t.

Over time, my curiosity has turned toward how all the parts fit together. I’ve helped design CAD workflows, refined communications systems, adjusted policies, rewritten procedures, and lead projects that bridge the gap between the people who use the technology and the people who build it. (Too often, by the way, those worlds don’t talk to each other.)

If there’s one question that started Dispatch.gold, it’s this: How can we do this job better?

This site is a place to share ideas about leadership, technology, and the daily realities of emergency communications. It’s built for people who care about both the mission and the mechanics. People who know that small improvements can make big differences when seconds matter.

Thanks for being here. Thanks for doing what you do.

— Andrew