ICS STORIES: Lost Connection

Several years ago, I was working patrol as a supervisor. Every other unit was busy with other calls, so when this suspicious person call came into 911 on the far end of the county, I took it. When I arrived on the scene, I saw a young male with a hoodie, holding what looked like a board, standing on the wrong side of the guard rail on a bridge over a river.  At first, he wouldn’t respond when I tried talking to him, but eventually, he did acknowledge me and was very upset and crying.

I tried calling dispatch to have another unit start my way but, because we were down in a river valley, the radio would not work, and my cell phone couldn't get a signal. Meanwhile, I was trying to talk to the suspect and get him to climb back over the guardrail.

 I heard dispatch on my radio checking my status, but my handheld wouldn’t connect. I had to decide if I was going to leave the suspect and walk back to my vehicle or stay focused on getting him to safety. I decided to approach the suspect slowly and try to build trust.  When I was about five feet away, the suspect turned quickly and hit me with the board he was holding. I used that time to lunge for him and pull him over the guardrail. 

 Shortly after, additional units showed up at my location to assist without me ever being able to communicate. Thanks to ICS’s Athena Mobile Software, with its real-time connection and communication to CAD, dispatch was able to monitor my status the entire time and send help when I was unresponsive.

As a supervisor, I always slept a bit easier knowing my officers were using Athena Mobile Software.