Another case is solved, thanks this time to the help of future dispatcher Jessica Casas.
The 9-year-old got to see what life was like as a dispatch officer Friday, April 22, at the Cottonwood Police Department.
Police picked her up from school and brought her to the new, larger dispatch center, where she learned what to do when calling 911 before she participated in live practice scenarios as a dispatcher.
The idea sprouted from a letter which Casas wrote the department, explaining her interest in the work law enforcement does and its importance in society.
Sgt. Monica Kuhlt was one of Cottonwood’s finest to donate her time to the exercise.
“It was a really well-written letter,” Kuhlt said. “We contacted dispatch and they took the ball and ran with it.”
The center has a practice mode that allows for fictitious names to be entered that will not alert on-duty officers to a false crime. Several police officers came in on their day off to help complete the scene, switching to a different channel in their cruisers to communicate with Casas.
Without delay, emergency struck. In what Casas said was her favorite part, a kidnapping call came in off a warrant search. Sylvester had taken one Tweetie Bird.
Casas had no time to lose, using dispatch codes and badge numbers to relay information from the computer and police, putting a quick end to that bad ol’ puddy tat.
Casas wasn’t fazed by the intense multi-tasking and quick-thinking needed at her post. She still looks forward to a career in law enforcement after the experience, albeit a long way off for the Cottonwood Elementary School student.
“Law enforcement keeps us safe. Without it, we would be wild animals,” she said. There are always a few surprises the first day on the job, too.
“I didn’t know they used computers like this. I thought it was all cell phones,” Casas said.
Wearing her future dispatcher shirt, she capped off the day receiving a plaque from Police Chief Steve Gesell, with mother Modesta Casas proudly looking on.
Kuhlt said this was the kind of public-police interaction she lived for.
“In just this short amount of time, Jessica’s seen police in a different light,” she said.
Noting how some of the officers would joke around in their down time, she said simply, “We’re human. We like to have fun, too.”
She added that it was a great opportunity to show the impact of protecting others to someone at that age. Community policing is something Kuhlt sees as being just as important in her work, and noted that this experience could serve as a pilot program for future interested youth.
In fact, she noted that one sergeant on the force started in the police’s Explorer Program, joining dispatch out of high school, entering the academy and becoming and officer at 21, the youngest one can become an officer at CPD.
Casas explained her career wishes in a virtually parallel manner.
It seems quite possible, given the accolades dispatch trainer Chelsea Shepherd had for her.
“She did really well,” she said, noting how quickly Casas picked up on the terminology.
Shepherd said that training new adult dispatchers takes about a year, with different goals set for time periods in the center’s three departments. Casas used the same program they would.
“I really enjoyed it. It was really fun. Seeing her enjoy it was the best part,” Shepherd said.
Those interested in joining the Explorer Program can call school resource officer Matt Watson at mwatson@cottonwoodaz.gov.
