Patrol dispatcher role model for others

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

With communication so important in keeping law enforcement officers and the public safe, it’s no surprise that public safety agencies designate a special week — National Telecommunicators Week — to commend the dispatchers who provide those critical services.

This past week, the Van Wert Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol also honored its dispatchers — with special mention going to Patrick Bowsher, who was recently named both the Van Wert Post and Findlay District “Dispatcher of the Year” for 2020.

Van Wert Post Commander Lt. Jonathon Gray commended all dispatchers for the critical importance they play in law enforcement, adding that Bowsher is a prime example of someone who goes the extra mile to make sure the job is done right.

“We always talk about them (dispatchers) being the front line; they’re our communication to the world,” Lt. Gray said. “They get the phone call … they get the mad person, the upset person, and the first call on the accident. They always get the brunt of the initial call, whether it is a mad call, a sad call, or a bad call.”

In fact, the post commander added, how a dispatcher handles that first contact with the public will likely set the tone for the rest of an agency’s interaction with the caller.

Bowsher is a 23-year veteran of the OSHP who began his career in 1997 right here in Van Wert, at the former post building (now demolished) located on land owned by The Marsh Foundation along Lincoln Highway. 

Dispatcher Bowsher, who is from Edgerton, later took a dispatching position at the Defiance Post, which is closer to his home in Edgerton, but returned to Van Wert a few years ago when the Patrol consolidated dispatching sites, combining two post dispatching sites into one site. During the consolidation, Defiance dispatchers were reassigned to Van Wert, which now dispatches calls for both the Van Wert and Defiance posts.

Lt. Gray said Bowsher’s lengthy Patrol experience makes him an excellent mentor and role model for other dispatchers, noting that the veteran frequently serves as a field training dispatcher teaching young dispatchers how the job should be done. Bowsher has also been a Division CPR instructor, has dispatched from the Ohio State Fair, and continues to share his knowledge and expertise with his peers.

The post commander noted that Bowsher’s peers showed how much they appreciated his abilities by choosing him as dispatcher of the year.

Lt. Gray said Bowsher’s excellent decision-making skills and cool-handed response in a crisis were recently on display during a multi-county chase involving a man driving a semi-tractor rig on U.S 30.

“The driver had threatened to injure civilians and law enforcement with his semi-tractor,” noted Bowsher’s Dispatcher of the Year nomination. “Even though the pursuit was initiated in another county by another dispatch center, Dispatcher Bowsher was able to seamlessly take over primary dispatch responsibilities with multiple county jurisdictions, and Highway Patrol posts involved.”

The nomination also noted that Bowsher provided updates to field units involved in the chase to help bring the incident to an end, then dispatched EMS to transport the injured suspect to a local hospital and spearheaded contacts with the Ohio Department of Transportation to get the highway closed and provide communications for the ensuring investigation.

Lt. Gray said it is a tribute to Bowsher that, even after 23 years on the job, he is still being recognized for outstanding effort.

“He’s still being voted by his peers as one of the people that excel at the job — good to work with and good to work for,” the lieutenant said.

Not only is Bowsher a leader on the job, Lt. Gray said, but he also provides leadership and service in his home community of Edgerton. Bowsher and his wife, Lyn, are both very active in the local Catholic church, and he umpires softball games and coaches local sports teams, as well as drives a bus for the Edgerton school district.

Bowsher is also very involved in the local post’s current effort to assist the Van Wert County Council on Aging during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lt. Gray said that, because of several aging and more vulnerable staff members, the Council on Aging needed help delivering items to their senior citizen clients. Troopers from the Van Wert Post began delivering items two days a week for the Council, while another request to help take calls for the Council got the post’s dispatchers involved.

The lieutenant said Van Wert Post dispatchers are now taking an average of 400 calls a week to help out the Council on Aging, in addition to their normal workload.

Bowsher, Lt. Gray said, went above and beyond that effort to compile all the calls he and other dispatchers received, note down the clients’ needs for the next week, enter them into his computer, and then email them to the senior center to let the agency know what would be needed the next week. All of that effort was in addition to what the Council had requested.

“That’s Pat,” Lt. Gray said. “He’s just an all-around good guy to have work for you and take care of business.”