Responding To Reluctant Callers

As an Emergency Police Dispatcher (EPD), I’ve come across an occasional caller who is reluctant to answer questions. Without making a real effort to work with the caller, I’ve heard these scenarios grow from uncooperative to outraged in a matter of seconds.

Often callers avoid answering questions and demand to “just send someone here,” repeating the same phrases without explanation. At times, continuing with the interrogation can elevate the caller’s agitation: “Enough with your questions, I already told you what I need!”

Where does that leave the EPD who is trying to collect critical information to prepare responders about to arrive on scene?

Meeting the caller’s mindset
It’s impossible to meet this struggle if you don’t first understand the mindset of the reluctant caller. A lot of times, these callers are overwhelmed by their emotions, which makes it hard for them to stay focused or go along with what’s being asked.

For instance, callers reporting domestic violence are sometimes afraid, ashamed, or not fully confident in their choice to invite officers to intervene in their private lives. Some may fear being overheard by the person still nearby, and others dread a violent reaction when police arrive.

Most of the time, callers who are dealing with something in the moment feel like everything’s happening so fast and they’re not in control. Even with past or cold call incidents, a person who has just discovered a significant theft or damage to their possessions may feel violated, confused, and shocked.

At times, the caller’s repeated vague description can be unclear, such as, “He just hit me!” Without any context, you may not know if the caller is describing a domestic violence incident, an assault, a physical disturbance, or even a motor vehicle accident. Clearly, it’s essential to ask for clarification, but remember that your connection with the caller can make or break that process.

Preventing the power struggle
I have learned firsthand about working with all forms of reluctant callers over the course of 16 years as a Senior Telecommunicator at Manatee County Emergency Communications Center (ECC) (Florida, USA) and nine years as a Quality Performance Review (QPR) Auditor and Analyst at Priority Dispatch Corp.^™

EPDs forget that the typical caller doesn’t deal with police involvement and emergencies every day like we do. Often, callers feel they are spinning out of control. They are dealing with something scary, unfamiliar, or totally overwhelming, and they are trying to fix it. They demand a solution, not an interrogation.

When it appears to the caller that the EPD is more interested in following their Protocol than sending help, that’s where the clash comes in. Though maintaining control over the call is a priority, entering a battle for control doesn’t get you the information you need. In fact, I’ve found these power struggles often derail the interrogation and provide a new target for the caller’s emotions: the EPD.

When I hear EPDs battling the caller, they don’t realize that approach actually takes away their power. While handling dynamic police incidents where factors are always evolving at the scene (e.g., a person leaves, a fight escalates, or someone pulls out a weapon), you can’t cut off your source of updates and critical information.

Police calls already have a reputation for being unpredictable and ever changing. The caller may be arguing with someone in the background, walk away from the phone (at which point the EPD may listen and document what is overheard), or keep going back to one detail of an incident.

It’s important to remember callers just want to feel heard, respected, understood, and assured. If you repeat back to them what they’ve already said, then they know you’ve been listening and understand the situation. This can sound like, “Okay, I understand that he pulled a gun on you and then left.”

Sometimes you may have to respond to an off-the-wall complaint with a little empathy and understanding. For example, I received a 911 call from a man whose roommate had eaten his bologna. When I tell that story, people ask me whether I followed through and sent officers. Absolutely. I realized if this man is that upset about bologna, this may be his breaking point. Maybe there’s something else at play he couldn’t verbalize to me, and maybe he still needs intervention.

As an EPD, it may not always be clear to you what is happening beneath the surface of a situation. It’s important to respect every caller and help them feel heard.

Reversing repetitive persistence
When facing a rather anxious or uncooperative caller, try rephrasing your approach. For instance, using repetitive persistence is a great strategy of repeating a desired action with the reason for that action. The EPD may state, “I need you to answer these questions so I can send help.” However, I’ve noticed that sometimes this phrasing can create some conflict.

You see, the caller doesn’t care about what you need to do for your protocol. They want someone to help them with what they’re facing now. Trust me when I say that approach is not going to calm them down enough for you to get the information you need. It makes you more of an obstacle in their eyes.

Instead, I suggest you tell callers what you’re going to do for them first: “I understand you want him removed, and this must be very stressful for you. Let me help you by sending some officers out. While I do that, I'm going to gather some information so they can understand the situation and help you when they get there.”

This wording contains another important piece of information that reluctant callers need to understand: There is no delay to the response while we’re collecting information. An EPD asking for further details doesn’t prevent or withhold help already on the way—it just refines the response.

Staying engaged to the end
Just like EPDs don’t always feel the full intensity of what’s going on at the scene, callers don’t always realize that some things aren’t clear from the way they’re explaining it. They can become more frustrated with more questions, especially if there are gaps of silence that can make callers feel more anxious or lose confidence in the EPD.

In a crisis, even a few seconds of silence can feel like forever. With professional courtesy, explain the cause of unavoidable processing gaps, showing callers that you are still actively engaged in the call and getting them help.

If your CAD glitches, your software closes, or you dispatch horizontally, these gaps can cause the caller to re-freak, lose control, and start fighting with you or people at the scene again. Keep the caller’s attention and let them know what is happening to help them feel secure.

Conclusion
When callers are uncooperative, responding with understanding and reassurance that they have been heard can go a long way in easing their concerns. As the first, first responder, your tone and approach can help settle things down, get better information, and prepare them to work with officers when they arrive. A calm caller can help keep the scene safer, so officers aren’t walking into a situation made more tense or unpredictable by an emotionally escalated caller.

Contributors to the Journal of Emergency Dispatch represent a diverse group of people, including Emergency Dispatch professionals, public safety professionals, and those with an interest in research. The Journal chooses to include articles from guest authors to provide our readers with an opportunity to hear from those in the field, read first-hand thoughts and experiences, and include information beneficial to those working in the Emergency Dispatch profession.

(Note: Content submitted by contributors reflects the views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch^®, the Journal of Emergency Dispatch, or its staff.)