High Schoolers As Emergency Dispatchers

I heard a story on the news a couple days ago that I still have not decided how I feel about it. Students from the law enforcement magnet high school are being hired by the Police Department to answer emergency phone calls in Houston. These are not 911 calls, but calls to the number that is listed on the side of police cars in the city.

On the surface it seems to me that high school kids would be unprepared to handle the stress of such a job as dispatching policemen to emergency situations. The man in charge of the program, however, says that he has had only one minor glitch in the several months that the program has been going on. He says the kids are better prepared than some of the folks who are older that he hires off the street.

What do you think?






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