National Telecommunicators Week

National Telecommunicators Week

911 dispatchers and staff are honored for their dedication to the community.

National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week

April 9-13, 2007

Honor your Public Safety 911 Dispatchers

911 Emergency Dispatchers

Across the nation in times of intense personal crisis and community-wide disasters, the first access point for those seeking all classes of emergency services is 9-1-1. The local county public safety communications center that receive these calls have emerged as the first and single point of contact for persons seeking immediate relief during an emergency as well as those seeking to report suspicious behaviors, unusual incidents and responding to the now common plea for citizen vigilance and attention in the wake of homeland security concerns nationwide.

Cherokee County along with 911 Centers Nation Wide will be celebrating the second full week of April (April 9-13, 2007) as National Public Safety Telecommunications Week. This week, celebrated annually, honors the thousands of men and women who respond to emergency calls, dispatch emergency professionals and equipment, and render life-saving assistance to the citizens of the United States. We are enlisting your support in honoring these men and women for the role they play in making our hometowns and our homeland safer everyday.

Cherokee County E-911 Telecommunicators dispatched 52219 calls for the 2006-year. The dispatchers answered 132307 telephone calls during 2006. Thanks to all Dispatch Personnel in the public safety community for your continued efforts to preserve the public's safety. National Public Safety Telecommunications Week has been set aside so everyone can be made more aware of your hard work and dedication, which provide a vital link to the public safety services on which we have come to rely every day.

During this special time and throughout the year, we ask that everyone support, honor and pray for each emergency 911 Telecommunicator.

2007 Cherokee County 911 Employees Years of Service

18 Years Lori Kidd, Addressing & Mapping.

16 Years Lewis Blanton, Training Captain

Delisa Coggins, Director

Rita Fowler, NCIC

15 Years Jack Vess, Shift Supervisor

13 Years Matt Lawson, Asst. Shift Supervisor

12 years Monica Littlejohn, Shift Supervisor

11 Years Robert Brackett, Shift Supervisor

Linda Houey, Dispatcher

Richard James, Asst. Shift Supervisor

10 Years Joyce Fowler, Dispatcher

9 Years Lorrie Smith, Asst. Shift Supervisor

8 Years Pam Miller, Asst. Shift Supervisor

6 Years Christi Kennington, Dispatcher

Reggie Petty, Captain of Dispatch

Robbie Whelchel, Dispatcher

5-Year Adam Childers, Asst. Shift Supervisor

4-Year Chris Blanton, Asst. Shift Supervisor

Alyson Jolly, Dispatcher

Stephanie Tate, Dispatcher

3 year Don Parris, Dispatcher

Phillip McCraw, Dispatcher

2 years Angie Cash, Dispatcher

1 year or less Billy Bishop, Dispatcher

Trip Hartman, Dispatcher

Randall Littlejohn, Dispatcher

Nichole Thomason, Dispatcher

Justin Valeka, Dispatcher

Radio Dispatcher Prayer

Lord help us radio dispatchers.
We need your guiding hand.
We need your wisdom, too Lord,
To fill the demands of men.

We gather up the traffic
from all around the state.
We're yelled and screamed at unduly,
which only causes hate.

It's ten-four this and ten-four that.
We hear it all day long.
We have to write a thousand notes
and answer all the phones.

The patrolmen in the cars, Lord,
they growl when we answer late
when all they really wanted
was a measly twenty-eight.

We listen to the story of a mother
whose child has run away.
We hear of the missing husband
who drinks up all his pay.

Our job is so confusing
we know not where to start.
We pull our hair and grit our teeth
and tear the room apart.

It's enough to cause an ulcer, Lord.
Our nerves grow more tense.
It's just a thousand wonders
we've got a grain of sense.

So you bless us real good, Lord.
And hold us by the hand.
Help us under existing circumstances
to do the best we can.

Amen

A Day in the Life of a Dispatcher

I leave my home and my family too
To go to the com center my job to do,

I walk in the door and the first thing I see
is the dispatcher on duty just before me.
With a quick rundown of the day's events,
A sympathetic smile and a couple of hints,
they are out the door and back to life
And I whisper a prayer for safe day or night.

The language we speak, the things that we say.
Though different at times they're similar by day
You answer the phone call after call -
A lost dog, a found cat or nothing at all.
Then the phone rings and the voice on the line
Is screaming for help and you know that it's time.
Your training takes over, you get help on the way,
As you dispatch units you silently pray

"Oh, Lord, please go with them wherever they go
They're risking their lives for one they don't know.
For every field unit I have to send
Is not just my co-worker but also my friend.
They have homes and families too,
So I'm asking you, Lord, Please see them through."

As the first of the units arrive on the scene
You hear the radio begin to sing.
Send Rescue, and Crime Scene, and CID
Get some more units and call 1,2, and 3.
Send out a BOLO, call this girl's mom
Have her go to the hospital but try to sound calm.

The crisis is over and they're back on patrol
And you know it's okay to lose control.
A couple of tears, a few minutes alone
and back out you go to answer more phones.
The music's too loud, there's a cow in the road
The neighbors are watering in spite of the code.

The next dispatcher is a welcome sight
When they walk in and say, "its been a long night?"
You give a quick rundown of the day's events,
a sympathetic smile and a couple of hints,
And when the last of my units calls 10-42
Today my job's done and I go home too.