This month is the month we honor our dispatchers or telecommunication officers. Since the mid-90’s the second week of April has been designated by Congress as the time we honor those who are the backbone of our departments. It doesn’t matter if it is law enforcement, fire, or EMS, the dispatcher is the ones who start the process to get the citizen the help they need. Some figures I reviewed stated that there are over 200,000 communication officers working throughout the United States. Here in the Valley we have 19 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP’s) call centers, which include approximately 250 dispatchers from several different agencies.

The reason for taking time to thank the dispatchers is because sometimes an officer gets credit for a special arrest or a special circumstance such as when a hostage situation ends peacefully, but it’s the dispatcher who was on the line with the homeowner and others, gathering pertinent information for the officer to be successful. Often it is the paramedic or fire fighter who gets credit when the child who fell into the pool begins to breathe again, but it’s the dispatcher who gave the mother instructions on how to apply mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Although police officers and firefighters and EMS personnel deserve credit for their job performance, we have a tendency to overlook the dispatcher who is almost a key player in the situation. It takes a special person to be a dispatcher. It is very stressful, and you have to be ready for almost every type of situation. It’s a very challenging, but rewarding profession. Dispatchers come in all shapes and sizes, all races, both sexes, and all ages. They are hired to do a difficult job and they do it well because they all have one thing in common, they care about people.

Dispatchers are expected to have the compassion of Mother Theresa, the wisdom of Solomon, the interviewing skills of Oprah Winfrey, the patience of Job, the voice of Barbara Streisand, and the knowledge of Einstein. They also are expected to have the answers of Ann Landers, the humor of David Letterman, the investigative skills of Sherlock Holmes, the faith of Billy Graham, and the endurance of the Energizer Bunny. I know each supervisor knows their importance to the success of their department and I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you to Sgt. Janie, Joe, Melba, Norman, Gilbert and Ruben and let them know they are appreciated for their friendship and for the outstanding job they do for us all.