What it means to be a telecommunicator – to you, to others, to the community.
Many years ago I started this journey, a journey to become an underappreciated seldom seen very important part of emergency services. I had only called 9-1-1 once in my life, that was the day three men robbed me at gunpoint while working at a convenience store. I never really understood …
I started my career with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office in 1993 as an emergency communications officer. I worked my way through call taking, dispatch, investigative, NCIC, and I finished as a dispatch supervisor in 1998 when I then transferred to become a patrol officer. In 2015, I was promoted as …
I know my true North. We all have our own. The moral compass inside where our integrity pulls the needle to your true North. I have been a Dispatcher (no, I am not offended to be called that-I know my worth) for 16 years and 2 agencies. I have dispatched …
In May of 2012, I started my career as a 911 Telecommunicator. When I walked into the police department on the morning of May 1st, I never knew how my life was going to change. I dispatched for about a year full time and then accepted my position as the …
I have been working for our agency for 28 years. I started part time and worked my way to Director in 6 years. We are a very small county, everyone knows everyone else so almost each call has the possibility of involving someone you know, or someone you love. I …
September 11 2001, I sat and watched as our world changed as well as my view of the world, the blinders were off. The naïve idea that I was in control of my life and that I could protect and shelter my children from evil was shattered. I was 19 …
This occurred more than a decade ago. I received a call from a frightened, distraught woman. She purchased a pair of shoes that he husband disapproved of, either because she was not allowed to spend money or buy anything without being with him. He had beaten her with the shoes …
My name is Melissa and I am proud to say that I have served in Public Safety for 22 years. Some good times and some very hard times. Comparing the present to the past there have been so many changes and yes we know how some feel about changes. UGG! …
I started my career as a 911 dispatcher my freshman year of college in 2010. At the time it was just a way for me to make a living but turned into more than I could imagine. It was a smaller campus than most due to the fact that it …
It was a mid-December evening, around dinner time, when I answered a 911 call. Never knowing what’s going to be on the other end of the line when answering can be stressful at times – an in-progress domestic or assault, a car accident with injuries, a successful suicide – or …
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