After researching a little bit I am starting to have some ideas. After looking at some of the websites about dispatch cuts I am starting to understand this topic a bit more. What I have learned from some of these articles and that really interests me is the reason people are cutting jobs is to save about $1.7 million. Another thing I found that was interesting was from the Burlington Free Press: “The November 2013 state police report said they were providing free dispatching to about 50 fire departments, 25 rescue squads, 29 municipal police departments and 25 towns that use constables to patrol their communities.” One of the last things that really worried me was when the Burlington Free Press said that people were trying to connect someone on the radio when they were near a shooting. Two men were trying to connect help but the radio system wouldn’t work so they couldn’t contact anyone. I think we should work on helping dispatchers here in our area.
Some things that are interesting to me at the moment is why the dispatcher company is cutting jobs. I think it is a bit mean to get rid of a person’s job. Another question that goes along with this, is why are these people getting rid of these jobs just so they can save $1.7 million. I just don't think it makes sense for people to get rid of paying jobs to save some money. These things are on my mind and I was thinking about what might happen if more jobs are cut. If we get rid of dispatchers don’t we also get rid of our only contact to the emergency system? What would happen if the whole dispatching cuts gets cut? Then we won’t have a connections to the emergency system.
What I would like to learn about this topic is why are dispatching jobs being cut. I hope to find the answer while researching more into this topic. I went to look at other blog posts my group posted, and I found a really interesting question that Emily asked: “Because of that, I really like our topic, it affects all people and it’s not an easy one to do because it’s never been done before. which is good, because why bother to do it if it’s already been done?” I liked this question because it really goes along the lines of this whole topic and this whole program. Why do something that already has been solved? If we work hard enough then we can find a solution to the dispatch cuts here in Vermont. If we work hard towards this goal then we can make a big difference in Vermont.
Enjoyed reading your post, Shoshana. Nice job starting to dig into some of the specifics of this topic. A few thoughts:
ReplyDelete1. The only way I know to understand the who, what, where, how, and why of an issue like this is to keep an open mind as I try to get "the story" from people who have different perspectives. Right when I think I'm settling on an opinion, I'll listen to someone else's perspective and it will give me pause. I reconsider my interpretation of the story. What I've learned from this: humans see things differently, based on their previous experiences. It's possible for 10 people to tell a different story about the same story. This makes it hard to get "THE" story.
2. A concept I learned in college: scarcity. There is a limited number of resources out there, so inevitably we can't do all the things we want in this world because there just isn't enough to go around to make this possible. For everyone who cares about one issue, there are a hundred more who care about other issues. In a democracy, this requires us to compromise with each other. Sometimes cuts happen because they have to; there are no resources to invest. I'm not suggesting that is the case here, though I imagine the money went toward something another group cared a lot about.
3. So, be on the lookout for the different people out there whom you could interview who have opposing / different views. Getting these different "windows" into a story will enable you to eventually put the pieces together into a story that gets the big picture.
Keep digging!
Bill Rich