SERVICE SPOTLIGHT:

Communications Officer Joel Goldstein

9-1-1 What’s your emergency? That’s the question asked by emergency dispatchers at the Norman Police Department an average of 200250 times a day. It’s an important job as dispatchers must quickly think about the best way to take action on every call.

Also known as communications officers, Joel Goldstein is one of several dispatchers who take calls and direct responses from police, fire and/or EMS. Goldstein said although the job can be stressful, it is also fulfilling.

Born in Baltimore, Goldstein attended school there until third grade when he and his family moved to Cincinnati. After graduating from high school in northern Kentucky, he joined the Air Force. He was stationed at Tinker for ten years.

Goldstein was injured, and because he couldn’t continue flying, he medically retired. While serving in the

Air Force, Goldstein volunteered as a reserve sheriff’s deputy for the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office.

“I went out and did patrol type things but completely in the volunteer division,” he said. “Then when I needed to find employment and dispatcher positions were open at the Sheriff’s Office, it was a natural transition.”

After working at the Sheriff’s Office for nine years, Goldstein joined the Norman Police Department also as a dispatcher and has been there for two years.

“What I enjoy most about my job is having the ability to help people,” he said. “Being able to resolve issues that come in and being able to quickly think on my feet is something I really enjoy.”

Working with officers in each department at the NPD is another aspect he enjoys about his job.

“I handle all the radios as the second in command for my supervisor. Depending on the day, if my supervisor isn’t in, I supervise the shift myself,” he said.

Making sure the calls coming in are being handled in an appropriate manner and assuring everything is sent out in a timely manner is all in a day’s work for Goldstein.

“It’s my job to make sure everything runs smoothly,” he explained.

Multiple factors determine the number of calls coming into dispatch each day, including community events and even the time of year.

“Depending on the day, it’s usually busier on the weekends, holidays and OU game days,” he said. “Any event that brings more traffic into Norman brings more calls to us.”

It might come as a surprise, but summer is a busier season than winter for emergency calls.

“More calls come in during the summer because people are out moving around more,” he said. “In the winter, when it’s cold, obviously people stay home more. In the summer, when people are outside more, it seems to bring about the ability for accidents and events to go wrong.”

Helping people and even saving lives is the best part of the job for Goldstein. He recalled the spring of 2015 when there was massive flooding in Cleveland County. While working for the Sheriff’s Office, a distress call came in that he will never forget.

“I remember a lot of heavy rain and certain areas of the county began flooding,” he said. “Some people were literally trapped inside their houses. A call came in and because the service was bad, the call kept cutting in and out. I wasn’t able to get an address, but I knew there was a family trapped inside their attic.”

As flood waters continued to rise, Goldstein knew he had to get that family out fast or they could drown.

“But we still didn’t have an address. We had to figure out where that ping off the tower was coming from and get someone out to that house,” he said.

He ultimately worked on the location of that call and was able to get someone out there to break the roof open and rescue the family. Goldstein said it was a great feeling to be able to do that and realizes it was a pretty big accomplishment.

In 2020, Goldstein graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in political science. He enjoys spending time with his son and daughter, and his fiancé, “Say’sha Cornish, a deputy with the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office,” he said.