New Job

So, I figure having been in a new job for nearly two months, it’s probably time to make some type of semi-formal announcement. (The formal announcement will occur later when everyone dresses in evening gowns and tuxedos.) For most of you in the various spheres of my life, you probably won’t notice much difference. For some of you, like my wife and children, things have changed quite a bit.

I am the new Statewide Interoperability Coordinator (or SWIC) for the State of Utah. “Sounds fancy” you say? One of the big reasons that I have dragged my feet reporting the promotion is that I haven’t yet figured out how to explain what I do before even the most robust attention spans wane.

I can say that my new office is in the State Office Building (affectionately referred to as the SOB) which is on the north end of the State Capitol Complex. I am in the basement in a room called the Emergency Communications Center. I work in the room alone, so if you get an email from me saying, “acka;as;askdfuids . . .” you should probably call me an ambulance.

I have struggled to find an appropriate telephone salutation. “State Interoperability – this is Scott” has been my mainstay so far, but most days it seems like it would be easier to say “The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick – this is Scott.”

I guess it also bears mention that I work for the Division of Enterprise Technology. I haven’t yet seen the transporters or the phasers, but I have high hopes.

It was a hard decision to leave the associations in dispatch behind. Spending thirteen years in a profession makes it feel more like an identity than a job, and leaving feels like I’m losing part of my soul. I wish all the best to those noble dispatchers I’ve had the privilege of working with. We who sleep at night owe them a debt we can never repay.

While I was saddened by my decision to leave the 9-1-1 Center, it does make me very happy to be working close to my friends from the Governor’s Office.

Here goes an attempt to explain what I do.

The radios used by police officers, firefighters, and EMTs have lots of options. They go from very simple (and somewhat inexpensive) to very complex (and very expensive.) As each police department, fire department, or ambulance department is essentially on its own to purchase and maintain its own system, frequently these systems don’t communicate with each other. For day-to-day things, this doesn’t matter a whole bunch. Occasionally (and more frequently than we would like) something bad happens where communities need to pool resources to handle it. It’s my job to help communities coordinate their radio (and soon data) systems to work together or be “interoperable.”

How many words into that paragraph did you read before you lost interest? See the problem?

That was my best try, and the shortest I’ve been able to make it thus far. If I keep failing at this, I’m just going to start telling people that I’m in the Ninja Assassination Prevention Agency – or the N.A.P.A.

“NAPA – this is  . . . WATCH OUT FOR THAT SHURIKEN!!!!”