Member Leslie Lowe was pictured and member Bob Erfman was quoted in an article in the Wednesday, April 2, 2002 Burbank Leader. The following is the article in its entirety.

DISPATCH CENTER GETS NEW LOOK
By Ryan Carter, Photo by Jill Karnicki

After more than a month of working in the cramped mobile command center outside police headquarters, the department's dispatchers are back in their refurbished home away from home: The Burbank Police Department's Communication Center.

The room isn't all that different than it was before. Three television monitors still display various video shots around the station, and the blinking lights and monitors of radios and computers still sit on the desks.

The big change is the center has become more ergonomically correct.

The 16 dispatchers, who work in three-person shifts, now have furniture that officials hope will cut down on the number of repetitive motion injuries that come with the job of receiving 9-1-1 calls, monitoring where patrol cars are and sending them to scenes within three minutes.

"It was a serious problem from the perspective of protecting the employees," said Police Lt. Bob Giles, who manages the center.

Giles found the staff - which fields 500 to 6000 calls per day - suffered from wrist injuries and carpel tunnel syndrome brought about by prolonged typing and sitting position, he said.

As the employees worked out of the temporary center, other workers were installing new adjustable computer consoles.

Unlike their predecessors, the adjustable consoles can raise and lower computers, monitors and keyboards between 25 and 46 inches off the ground.

"It's just easier on your body and easier to adjust to where you want your body to be." said Communications Operator Bob Erfman, as he monitored his 911 screen and vehicle locator monitors.

"This is mission critical," Giles said, referring to the importance of dispatchers' jobs. "This is where it happens, and it's probably the highest stress job in the department."

Giles said the amount of multi-tasking coupled with having to remain stationary while receiving loads of information makes the job especially intense.

Erfman was happy about the changes and pleased to get out of the small mobile command center.

"It was like sitting in a closet with three other people," he said.