Centre staff have busy weekend

Quick thinking and professionalism were at the fore over a very busy Queen’s Birthday weekend when Northcomm staff played critical roles in a range of serious incidents.

Northcomm Shift Manager, Inspector Andy Brill, reports that a young woman called 111 after escaping the advances of a potential sex offender at 3am in the morning. However, the woman had no idea where she was.

“By a combination of clever questioning, calming and encouraging support to the caller, communicator Catherine Young got her to a hiding place, identified where she was and got patrols there before she was found by the man who was driving around looking for her,” says Andy.

Northcomm also played a big part in an Auckland pursuit on the Sunday morning, during which shots were fired at police. “Dispatcher Carol Ott did a sterling job in coordinating the response with calm, clear and confident handling of what became a very high-profile incident,” says Andy.

On the Sunday night, a relatively new Northcomm communicator, Hope Adams, received a distraught call from a member of the public about a fight victim who had collapsed and stopped breathing. “Hope talked the caller through the CPR process and, between them, managed to get the youth breathing again before medics arrived and took over.”