The week of April 10 through 16 is National Telecommunicators Week, intended to honor the first link in the chain of emergency police, fire and medical responses.
If you’ve ever been the victim of a crime, been in a collision, reported a fire or needed emergency medical help, you’ve called 911 and been helped by a telecommunicator.
At the Washington State Patrol they are known as communications officers. Other agencies use the more formal term of telecommunicator, or similar titles. The common term is dispatcher – the person who answers the phone or radio and sends help where it’s needed.
“Dispatchers are usually the first people to know when something really bad has happened,” State Patrol Chief John R. Batiste said. “We count on them to get our emergency response off on the right foot, and they invariably come through with flying colors.”
Batiste knows the job. As a young state patrol cadet, he was assigned to WSP’s Communications Division. He says not only are dispatchers a lifeline for the public, but for emergency responders as well.
“I have been out on that lonely road at night stopping a car with a wanted criminal inside,” Batiste said. “The dispatcher’s calm voice kept me calm during a dangerous situation, because I knew if I needed help I’d get it. I depended on them, and my family depended on them. I was in good hands.”
Telecommunicators Week began in California in 1981, and quickly grew to national recognition. Just ten years later, Congress had designated the second full week of each April as a time to remember the critical role that dispatchers play in keeping us all safe.
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