GR dispatcher retires after 30 years

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - After 30 years on the job, David VanHouten will retire as a Grand Rapids emergency communications operator.

The city's emergency dispatch center is losing one of the people police and firefighters hope is on the other end of the microphone when they need something.

"Thirty years behind the mic (and) this is my final call out," VanHouten said. "Thirty years, and it's been an honor and a pleasure serving all of you."

In a business where statistics show many workers burn out after an average of two years on the job, VanHouten has been at it for 30.

And in those three decades, he has seen it all.

"Every homicide," he said. "Every baby that stopped breathing, you carry along with you throughout your career."

Just about every big event that made TV, he has been a part of: from the potentially dangerous chemical spill that sent a cloud of hydrochloric acid over the city in spring 2002, to the frightening sight of a medical helicopter burning atop Spectrum Hospital in spring 2008.

"That, of course, (is a) once-in-a-career incident which I hope never happens again," VanHouten said.

And he has dealt with some heartbreak. It was he who delivered the final radio call to Grand Rapids police officer Robert Kozminski during his funeral in July 2007.

"(That) is probably the biggest honor I've had of my career," VanHouten said.

He has survived five police chiefs, the move to a new police headquarters and the discovery of a brand new computer-aided dispatch program -- one that didn't work.

After 30 years, VanHouten has followed the same mentality.

"If you know the basics, you can deal with anything," he said.