Five questions with Scott MacDonald
How long have you been a telecom operator?
I just recently hit 20 years of working in the Operations Communications Centre(OCC) in December of 2023.
Why did you become an operator?
Before I started with the RCMP I worked as a teacher with the PEI school system. After eight years of being on and off contract I was looking for something more stable in my life. My wife worked in the OCC, and felt that with my background of working with others that I could be a good fit. For the first year I worked in the OCC, I was still substitute teaching and doing dispatch but then finally gave up teaching to do this fulltime. Ironically some of the students I taught are now members of the RCMP here on PEI and I work in the same building with them.
What are your favorite parts of the job?
The main part of this career is that you never know what you will get every time you go to work. There is no predictability with the job, its always changing and challenges you in knowing what is currently going on around the Island. In many ways, you need to be a human Google search engine, being able to find out information for things both Police and non-police related. Many times, we deal with people on their worst days, and I know myself and my co-workers are there to try and fix or help members of the public solve their problems the best we can. I've been lucky to travel with this job; going on course to Depot in Regina, working the G8 Summit in Muskoka, Ontario in 2010, and doing relief duty in Iqaluit, Nunavut.
What would you say to someone thinking about this as a career?
You need to be an excellent multi-tasker. Your shift can go from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye. Being able to handle multiple phone calls, radio dispatches, and you'll never know if the call you are about to answer is something administrative or something extremely serious. Some of the most serious and involved files I have ever worked have come at the strangest times. You need to be ready to get into "go mode" at the drop of a hat.
What's your funniest or happiest story from your time as an operator?
We deal with many different types of calls, some take more of a toll then others do. One call I remember had a lady call in as she was lost in the Bonshaw trail system, it had turned dark and was fairly cold this evening, and she didn't know where she was or how to get out. I actually had just been hiking through Bonshaw with my dog a few days earlier so I had a pretty good idea of where she was. I stayed on the phone with her, reassuring her and helping her find her way out to where her son was waiting for her with a warm car. Sometimes we don't get closure on the calls we take, but this evening I knew that I was able to make a difference and get her home safely.