Annual Security and Fire Safety Report<\/a>, reflecting the constant demand placed on the university\u2019s dispatch center, where every emergency and non-emergency call begins.<\/p>\nAt 70 years old, an age when many may have chosen to retire, Keith continues working overnight shifts as one of UCFPD\u2019s most experienced dispatchers.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t always envision a career in public safety; the opportunity fell onto him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sort of felt like I, in a way, fell into it, even though I had envisioned myself at one point in life when I was in college, trying to decide what I wanted to do in graduate school,\u201d Keith said in\u00a0a phone call.\u00a0\u201cSeveral of my professors were really involved with their law enforcement program at the University of Alabama.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keith earned his degree in psychology and criminal justice at the University of Alabama before going to graduate school and deferring for a year, ultimately never going back.<\/p>\n
After his decision, he chose to embark on a different path in life by giving a swing at minor league golf in Florida\u00a0for 10 years before realizing he may not be totally cut out for it.<\/p>\n
Keith then decided it was best to utilize his degree in criminal justice when he saw an advertisement for the Oviedo Police Department as a police dispatcher.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I decided I wanted to do something with my degree and saw an advertisement for the Oviedo Police Department…as a police dispatcher,” Keith said. “I\u00a0figured my background, my degree in criminal justice and psychology, might be helpful with it.”<\/p>\n
After five years with the department, he was faced with a decision to either stay with the dispatching center that was merging with the Seminole County Sheriff\u2019s Office or find somewhere else to go.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, he found himself applying for and landing a dispatching position with UCF.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to go to work for a big, massive agency where the lack of personality and personal involvement was very different,\u201d Keith said. \u201cUCF was hiring at the time, and I hired on at UCF in 2012.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keith\u2019s day-to-day isn\u2019t usual. At around 10:45 p.m., while much of the campus falls asleep or engages in nightly activities, he sits in the center of a high-tech concave surrounded by eight glowing monitors containing 20 different programs that each require their own specific password as he prepares for his eight-hour shift.<\/p>\n
As an overnight dispatcher, Keith views his role as bigger than an operator but as a \u201cpilot\u201d of the department as he takes control of the quiet but high-stakes overnight hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re basically a pilot of the UCF police department at that point in time,\u201d Keith said. \u201cWe\u2019re flying the ship and there are other people that are up and down a chain of command that we respond to.\u201d<\/p>\n
With every shift being a mystery as to the kinds of calls they receive, he enforces the idea of staying prepared, as there is a wide range of severity that comes from different calls.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where you never know what\u2019s going to happen,\u201d Keith said. \u201cIt could be somebody calling that has been assaulted or somebody that has had something stolen from them.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, all calls surround one focus and share one factor.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than anything else, you get phone calls all the time from people that need assistance,\u201d Keith said.<\/p>\n
He knows what job he must do, but understands that many misconceptions come from working with a police department. However, he reassures those who believe those misconceptions that he has one purpose and one purpose only.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here to help people,\u201d Keith said. \u201cSome people are scared of the police and I understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He emphasized that, in all reality, that mission is what keeps him going and keeps him in the profession and how this role gives him a sense of purpose and meaning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes you feel like you\u2019re actually doing something good, which was the thing that has probably kept me invigorated and, at my age, still excited about going to work,\u201d Keith said. \u201cIt is probably the only reason I\u2019m still doing it and that I haven\u2019t retired, which I could do right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also expanded on his role with the police department, considering it more psychological and emotional, and how his role plays into the effectiveness of the department.<\/p>\n
Keith even added that the position prides itself on focusing on other people and making a difference in other people\u2019s lives by putting them on the right track.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re the psychologists of the police department,\u201d Keith said. \u201cWe deal with a lot of issues that people have and try to help them.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sort of impact goes beyond the calls, according to Dispatch Supervisor Tiffany Ortiz.<\/p>\n
\u201cSteven consistently goes above and beyond on every call he handles,\u201d Ortiz said\u00a0in an email.\u00a0\u201cHe ensures each caller feels genuinely heard and supported, while also taking the initiative to review open cases and assist detectives.\u201d<\/p>\n
This work does not go unnoticed as he has claimed a few accolades during his time as a dispatcher, highlighting his success in the field and recognition, according to Public Safety Communications Manager Amanda Sellers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis contributions have been recognized through being named Dispatcher of the Year in both 2016 and 2022,\u201d Sellers said in\u00a0an email.\u00a0\u201cA testament to his consistency, excellence, and commitment to service.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, in this line of business, there are always moments that stick out the most, Keith said. Moments, he said, that mold how he handles this line of work and will be ones that are carried with him until he retires.<\/p>\n
Keith looked back on the first 911 call that he ever took while with the Oviedo Police Department, where he was on the phone with someone witnessing a home invasion taking place at their neighbor\u2019s residence.<\/p>\n
![\"‘We’re](\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\")
<\/p>\n
A dispatcher workstation at the UCF Police Department\u00a0shows the multi-screen setup that Steven Keith, a UCFPD dispatcher, described, where operators monitor calls, communicate with officers and access information in real-time.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of UCF<\/p>\n
He said that call was one of the scariest feelings he ever had in a dispatch center because of the timing of it in his early days of dispatching.<\/p>\n
While the memories can be daunting, Keith emphasized the importance of handling pressure and mentally training your mindset to remain calm when the person on the other end of the line is not.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not memories that haunt me,\u201d Keith said. \u201cThey\u2019re memories of me doing this job and doing the best I can to help people at the job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keith explained the importance of putting personal fears aside and relying on training and experience to handle stress.<\/p>\n
He also emphasized the need for multitasking and constant training to manage the demands of the job and discussed the importance of following policies to resolve situations effectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just draw on your experience, if you have it, but also your training,\u201d Keith said. \u201cOne thing that drives me crazy about this job is a mentality that we have to get it right, we can\u2019t afford to get it wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
All in all, Keith embraces the idea of serving a bigger purpose, even if those who don\u2019t see his face or know his name but only hear his voice. It rewards him by reminding him who he is serving, which is the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn actual positive thing about doing this kind of job, is that you can get to the point where you feel like you\u2019re making a real contribution to a community,\u201d Keith said. \u201cWorking at UCF gives you that kind of feeling of you\u2019re working for a community that is doing something good in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sellers reinforced that this impact is felt across the entirety of the department.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell-respected and genuinely appreciated by everyone who has the privilege of working with him,\u201d Sellers said. \u201cSteven truly embodies the values of teamwork and service.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even after decades of different paths, from classrooms to golf courses to dispatch consoles, Keith still shows up each night answering calls from people he may never meet, solving problems he may never see resolved, and doing the work few notice but many rely on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steven Keith, a dispatcher at the UCF Police Department, has been working\u00a0overnight shifts for more than a decade,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[115,139,141,140,504],"class_list":["post-259194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}