From the independent producer project of KCRW and KCRW dot com, I'm Bob Carlson, and this is Unfictional.

Unfictional is a program of stories and personal documentaries and today a very unusual

episode seven pieces produced by graduate students at the University of Southern California

as Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, I'm calling it

LA Work Day. Seven portraits of Angelino's just trying to earn a wage over the

course of a day, beginning here.

Long before dawn, at a nondescript office building at the edge of downtown in a huge

brightly lit room, a woman sits with her colleagues watching her computer screen intently and she answers the phone.

From KCRW.com, it's unfictional.

7A21, are you handling a call for 7-822?

7-8-22. 7-8-22, Roger, cancel a call.

I've been working this shift for about six and a half years from 10 p.m. until 6.30 a.m.

I like the night shift because to me I feel like we get the real calls, the calls where people really need the police to come with license and sirens. Why are you calling at two? Because something is going on. My name is Natrice Thomas. I've been working as a 911 dispatcher in

LA for about 14 years. I've always wanted to be a police officer and then I thought

about it. I decided I didn't want to be out there in the

field risking my life. So I decided this was the next best thing. Take 911

calls and help that way behind the scenes.

Wilsher Unit for the domestic violence West Washington Boulevard Co2 incident,

6255 and RD 779 identified.

I can be responsible for up to 50 officers.

Coordinating any kind of officer emergency help calls,

following, pursuits, and sometimes they can all talk to you and they're talking

...