Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Process and Consequences of the Work of 911 Dispatchers

本博士论文研究旨在了解911调度员日常工作的过程和后果。该研究的重点是调度员如何理解和响应通过911热线传达的公民紧急情况，调度员如何在计算机辅助调度（CAD）系统中对公民呼叫进行编码，调度员压力的来源，以及调度员如何应对压力，他们的同事和相关组织如何培训，对待和感知。广泛的现场工作将在城市警察局的紧急通信中心进行，911电话将在那里接听，并派出部队。对中心日常活动的数据、对调调员、主管、主管和学员的访谈、过往电话记录、来电记录、CAD系统的信息、手术室和餐厅的偶然互动、培训手册和书籍，以及来自媒体、市、州法院和州警察的其他相关文件和文件进行分析。本研究为社会学领域的三个文献体系做出了贡献：国家分类实践、街头官僚主义和职业社会学。实证分析试图回答古典和现代的理论问题，即国家如何被公民代表和体验。本研究考察了国家分类系统应用的过程，以及这一过程的成本和后果。现场站点提供所有的来电、电话记录、培训材料、现场观察访谈以及来自城市、大城市警察局的CAD登录。这项研究将潜在地展示街道级别的州雇员（911调度员）如何参与州分类，将复杂的社会生活和明确的官僚类别联系起来。它有助于增加对状态类别如何应用和复制的理解，以及如何通过人类代理人的不断努力实现外部世界和状态形式之间的对应。该研究还将为911调度员所经历的压力和轨迹提供实用和政策相关的指导，并为市民提供对911调度员系统如何工作的更好理解。

This doctoral dissertation research seeks to understand the process and consequences of 911 dispatchers' daily work. The study focuses on how dispatchers understand and respond to citizens' emergency situations communicated through 911 lines, how dispatchers code citizens' calls in the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, the source of dispatcher stress, and how dispatchers cope with stress, are trained, treated and perceived by their colleagues and related organizations. Extensive fieldwork will be conducted in an urban police department's emergency communication center where 911 calls are answered and units dispatched. An analysis will be completed of data from day-to-day actions in the center, interviews with dispatchers, directors, supervisors and trainees, records of past calls, incoming calls, information from CAD system, casual interactions in the operation room and dining area, training manuals and books, as well as other relevant documents and files from the media, the city, state court, and the state police. This study contributes to three bodies of literature in the field of sociology: state classification practices, street-level bureaucracy and the sociology of the professions. The empirical analysis seeks to answer the classical and present-day theoretical question of how the state is represented to and experienced by citizens. The research examines the process through which the state classification system is applied and the costs and consequences of this process. The field site provides access to all incoming phone-calls, phone records, training materials, on-site observation interviews as well as CAD log-ins from an urban, big-city police department. The study will potentially demonstrate how street-level state employees (911 dispatchers) engage in state classification that bridges complex social life and clear-cut bureaucratic categories. It contributes to an increased understanding of how state categories are applied and reproduced, and how the correspondence between the outside world and state forms of representation is accomplished through the constant efforts of human agents. The research will also provide practical and policy-relevant guidance regarding the stress and trails experienced by 911 dispatchers and provide for citizens a greater understanding of how the 911 dispatch system works.