About Hold Traffic
Clear the air. Start the conversation.
Hold Traffic is an independent publication about leadership, technology, culture, and life in public safety communications.
The name comes from a phrase familiar to anyone who has spent time on a public safety radio:
“Hold traffic.”
Clear the channel. Something important needs the air.
That's the idea behind this site.
There are important conversations happening in 911 centers every day—about how we lead, how we train, how technology is changing our work, how we build healthy cultures, and where this profession goes next.
Hold Traffic is a place to have those conversations.
About Me
I'm Justin Storch, and I've spent over 15 years in public safety communications.
I started as a communications officer in 2010. Since then, I've worked as a dispatcher, communications training officer, supervisor, and now as the superintendent of a multi-agency 911 communications center in Texas.
I've spent thousands of hours behind a console answering phones, working radios, training new employees, solving problems at three in the morning, and experiencing the unique combination of chaos and routine that makes dispatch what it is.
Eventually, my responsibilities changed.
Instead of worrying only about what was happening on my console or my shift, I began thinking about bigger questions.
How do we build better dispatchers?
How do we develop good supervisors?
What makes people want to stay in this profession?
Why do some communications centers develop strong cultures while others struggle?
How do we introduce new technology without forgetting about the person sitting behind the screen?
And perhaps most importantly:
What should the standard be?
I don't believe there are simple answers to most of those questions, and that's one reason Hold Traffic exists.
I'm Still Learning
I didn't start Hold Traffic because I believe I've figured out how to run the perfect communications center.
I haven't.
I've made mistakes.
I've changed my mind.
I've implemented ideas that worked better than I expected and others that taught me exactly what not to do next time.
I've learned from excellent leaders, difficult situations, frontline dispatchers, other agencies, conferences, instructors, vendors, and occasionally from discovering that something I've believed for years simply wasn't correct.
I think that's part of being a professional.
We should never become so invested in being right that we stop being willing to learn.
Hold Traffic gives me a place to share some of what I've learned while continuing to learn from others.
What You'll Find Here
Most of what I write will fall somewhere within four areas:
Leadership — Standards, accountability, communication, supervision, developing people, organizational culture, and the realities of leading a communications center.
Technology — CAD, radio systems, NG911, mapping, artificial intelligence, real-time information, interoperability, and emerging technology that could change how we work.
Culture — Recruitment, retention, training, professional development, wellness, workplace expectations, and how we treat the people sitting beside us.
Life in 911 — The experiences, observations, lessons, frustrations, humor, and occasional absurdity that come with working in public safety communications.
Some articles will be researched and technical.
Others may simply begin with something I've been thinking about.
Both belong here.
This Is a Conversation
I don't want Hold Traffic to become an echo chamber.
Public safety communications is too diverse for one person, one agency, or one philosophy to have all the answers.
What works in a large metropolitan center may not work in a four-console center in rural America. A consolidated regional center faces different challenges than a communications division inside a police department. Technology that transforms one operation may create unnecessary complexity in another.
Those differences are worth talking about.
Over time, I hope Hold Traffic becomes more than my voice.
I'd like to talk with dispatchers, trainers, supervisors, directors, technologists, vendors, responders, and other people who are trying to move this profession forward.
And eventually, some of those conversations may move from the written page to a microphone.
But the purpose will remain the same.
Clear the air. Start the conversation.
One Important Disclaimer
Hold Traffic is an independent project.
The opinions expressed here are my own and do not represent my employer, any agency I work with, or any organization with which I may be affiliated.
Public safety professionals are entrusted with information that doesn't belong on the internet. I take that responsibility seriously.
I may write about lessons learned throughout my career, but I will not use this platform to discuss confidential information, personnel matters, protected information, or operational details that should remain within an agency.
When experiences from the profession inform something I write, the point will be the lesson, not the people involved.
Hold Traffic
911 has changed tremendously since I first put on a headset.
It's going to change even more.
I want to understand where we're going, challenge some of the assumptions we've carried with us, learn from people doing good work, and contribute something useful to the profession that's given me a career.
There will be plenty to talk about.
So for a few minutes—
Hold traffic.
Let's clear the air and start the conversation.
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