Once a year a week is set aside in April to honor the people who are the voice of the agency and truly the voice of the Emergency Responder Community. This voice is the first and in some cases the last person someone talks to or calls when they are in dire need of help. That person who is seldom seen, who does not respond to the scenes but is very much a part of every call.
Who is this voice, and why is a week set aside to honor someone that no one sees, only talks to once and does not go to the scenes. The answer is simple and yet complex, that person is a Dispatcher. This person answers the phone not knowing what type of incident they will be getting involved in from a simple question to a call where a life has been taken or is in danger. They must remain calm and gather as much information as possible despite the terror, the pain or the chaos that is unfolding on the other side of the phone call, they do this so that the Law Enforcement Officer, Medic or Fireman who is responding to the scene knows what they are responding to. They must be able to answer the radio, talk on the phone, type and do a multitude of other tasks while keeping track of their Deputies, Firemen and which medic unit is responding where. They send Deputies to calls for service where the Danger is very real, they wait in great anticipation for the Code 4 on the other end, meaning that for the time being their friend is safe. They seldom know the outcome of the cases they get mentally and emotionally pulled into with just a simple phone call, this leaves them on an emotional roller coaster at times, yet they fight through this and remain focused and vigilant so as not to let one of their Deputies go unaccounted for or a call for service unanswered.
The answer to who this voice is and why a week is set aside is answered simply that they are an Invaluable, underrated and often underappreciated part of the Emergency Responder Community, they are our lifelines and the calm voice in the storm. The person who we count on to keep us on track and focused when things go bad. Thank you for what you do, for who you are, Dispatchers are as specialized a combination of qualities, character and guts as is a cop.
Churchill County Sheriff’s Office Administration
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