The owner/publisher of the newspaper at which I'm employed is great about buying the tools we need to get our jobs done. I'm still trying to convince him that I need a Mini Cooper to do my job well, along with a laptop and maybe a skylight in my office. We are getting a new digital SLR camera in the near future, so I guess I shouldn't feel too bad.
Anyhow, I thought it would be beneficial to have a police scanner in the office. You know, those radio-like things that pick up emergency frequencies. With it, we can be alerted immediately if there is a major accident, fire or other calamity. I hate when something awful happens, but it is our jobs to find out when it does.
After researching the type we would need, and finding a short list of suitable models, one was sitting on my desk the next day. Wah-lah, we're now plugged in to some of the drama that happens in the greater Fort Worth area. This is good and bad, and here are a few reasons why:
• Sometimes the drama we hear is heart-wrenching. At times it can be a constant stream of COPS episodes, only in real time. There are drug overdoses, runaways, suicide attempts, domestic disputes, assaults, kidnappings, robberies, murders, medical emergencies, major car accidents. Because it is on all day, we don't control much of what we hear. There are times I'd like to turn it off, but I don't.
• There are bits of levity sprinkled among the tragedy. Police, firefighters, city workers and dispatchers often have to keep their senses of humor about them to survive. Sometimes that is broadcast as well, and we laugh along with them.
• Even though not meant to be funny, there are times when real life presents some inadvertent humor that is hard to ignore. Behind them are more serious, sometimes dangerous issues. Two examples: a 16-year-old girl's mother was attempting to take her to rehab, and she ran out of the house – wearing nothing but a bra and a towel. Another time, a guy was sitting in a park, pleasuring himself in an exhibitionist sort of way. When the police started to chase him, he forgot his pants.
Because we live in a suburban area still peppered with small ranches, the occasional wayward bovine starts munching on the lawns in gated communities – I never did hear how the cow got into the gated community, though.
Life goes on. People live and die. The office, when quiet, is sometimes broken by the conversations that accompany this cycle. Pain, joy, comedy, tragedy. The police scanner has certainly added a new dimension to the workday. The jury is still out, however, on whether the sordid parts outweigh the useful information we sometimes get. I sure don't want to become desensitized to the gravity of tragedy. I want to have that gut-wrenching feeling when something awful happens. And I want it to go away when I hear something funny.
But you can't always have it all.
I watch COPS every once in a while, but I think I'd hate hearing it all day like that. So true about the balance, though- I like the one where the police are taking a guy away for beating his wife, and the wife is standing on the lawn bellowing- "Thanks alot! No sex for a month!"
I would definitely not have those guy's job!
I suggest a HOT TUB in the office as well!
-d
Good luck snagging that Mini! I think I need to convince my Director that I too would be more efficient with a Cooper for department use. :)
Digital SLR???? How. Jealous. Am. I?????????????
Police scanner is a must - good call on that one T.
great call on the scanner! sounds like you are right on top of everything.
scanners in general drive me crazy. i hate the in-between noise. the noise between the voices...drives me crazy. many years ago...i lived with my sister and she is a paramedic. she loved having it on ALL OF THE TIME. couldn't deal with it. everytime she would go to the other room i would crank it down.
Wow, never a dull moment. It's kind of like having the Fox network in your office, 24/7.
whoa! you "needed a scanner? Thats kick ass! You "need" any IT people there? Like me??
Dew
How can you not take it to heart? How can you stand it?
What a great town! People enjoying the park (hahaha), cows with gate pass codes to upscale communities and a giving boss! I'm packin' our bags.
Mini Cooper?!?! YES!!! I've wanted one three years before they were released here in the states (the "S" model of course). Keep up the good work and remember, you "need" the Mini. Plug that scanner into it and you'll be scooping everyone on the latest police story.
(offline, tell me what scanner you picked)
We have one of those in our office so I can relate. One thing that bothers me a bit is the running tally between some of the other staffers, when they hear a tone they yell out what they think it is, "stabbing", "Fallen and can't get up", "Car wreck" I think its a bit off color, but I guess its one way to alleviate the travesty.