The People on the Other End.

I had never really heard anyone die before. Sure I had "seen" it on surveillance tapes of Wildest Police Chases and similar shows, but never actually just heard pure unfiltered audio of someone dying. Not only that, but someone being shot.

That was until last Thursday when I visited the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and spent time with both the 9-1-1 responders unit and PIO office.

It is a truly startling experience, but a reality that 9-1-1 call respondents have to face every time they go to work. Not that someone dies on the job everyday, but traumatic experience is always a possibility.

It takes a special breed of men and women to willingly work 12 hour shifts answering phone calls from the most monotonous, "my cat is in a tree," to both literally and figuratively talking someone off the ledge.

I had no idea how complex the call and respond systems were or really how much work went into keeping the system up and running 24 hours a day 365 days a year. Not because I just didn't know, but because it is a part of living that I just take for granted. If I would have spent more than 10 seconds thinking about it, I would surely have realized how stressful and detailed this occupation is. It's a part of everyday life, something bad happens you know you can call 9-1-1. It really is a job that deserves more respect as they are the ears of a unit that preserves order on the streets.

I was also able to listen to Larry McKinnon speak during my visit. McKinnon is a retired 25-year veteran of the Tampa Police Department now works in the PIO office. McKinnon broke down the workings of filing reports and how we as future journalists will be able to obtain them. McKinnon repeatedly harped on the importance of knowing the 119 statute. Which can be found in all its glorious details here. According to McKinnon the 119 statute has many loopholes and the more we know about it the better. Just one more piece of knowledge in my ever growing understanding of public records.