"When people call the police, they're generally not having a good day," says Miranda Baird, Senior Dispatcher at the Arcata Police Department. "Our job is to make things as easy as possible." Miranda fields both emergency and non-emergency calls from the public, keeps tabs of her officers' locations, and communicates with them via radio, sometimes all at once. Dispatchers can track dual conversations-one in each ear-a skill that only 3 percent of us possess. "It's important to stay calm while doing that. People are depending on you." Her reward at the end of the day? "I know I help people when it really counts."