On July 8, 2019, CTO Tiffany Wayland began her shift for the City of Newport News, VA, assigned to the Central radio. What she didn’t know is that this day that started “normal” was getting ready to drastically change. At 1413 hours the Magistrate requested to attempt a protective order service at an address in their jurisdiction and at 1425 CTO Wayland dispatched two units. Before officers could arrive on scene, additional information was received advising that the male subject inside the residence had access to several firearms and was experiencing suicidal as well as homicidal thoughts. Without hesitation CTO Wayland updated responding units and made proper notifications ensuring officer safety. At 1510 officers arrived on scene and traffic was held. Just a few minutes later the primary unit advised to resume normal traffic. Unbeknownst to them all, they weren’t out of the woods yet.
“Shots fired by the police” was the next thing CTO Wayland heard from the officers on scene. She remained calm and performed at peak efficiency, immediately holding traffic yet again and obtaining pertinent information from the units. With officer safety her primary concern, she ensured all officers on scene were safe and was able to determine a K-9 on scene was shot at. CTO Wayland showed off her multi-tasking skills, keeping up with the steady stream of back to back radio traffic, maintaining accurate unit status’ and making all notifications.
Assiduous in her duties, CTO Wayland saw an update that stated the suspect had called into the center and stated he was in Yorktown at work but refused to provide any additional information. Just weeks earlier CTO Wayland successfully completed an APCO Crisis Negotiations course; armed with her new knowledge she didn’t hesitate regaining contact with the male suspect. She displayed her true dispatcher traits and gained the trust of the subject, while gathering pertinent information and continuously updating CAD.
Working as a team, Dispatcher Holiday relieved CTO Wayland from the radio to allow her to solely focus on the homicidal/suicidal male that she was building a rapport with. Using a calm and professional manner, she was able to ascertain the suspect was in fact home and convinced him to exit the residence and surrender to units on scene. CTO Wayland’s extreme professionalism and genuine empathy prevented this situation from escalating while ensuring the safety of all involved.
APCO International applauds the work of CTO Tiffany Wayland of the City of Newport News, VA, and is proud to recognize her as a “Teammate in Action” for her lifesaving work during this incident.
