“Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley resonates deeply with the high-stakes, emotionally charged environment of a 911 center. The song’s themes of questioning one’s sanity and feeling overwhelmed parallel the experiences of dispatchers who navigate life-or-death situations daily.
Chances are you have called someone a rock star, or someone has called you a rock star. And, frankly, we think you all deserve it. So this is a chance to make your rock and …
Take our poll and see how other organizations are celebrating! Results
Thank you to all who participated in the NPSTW 2024 contest “What is Your ECC’s Movie?” We loved reading the creative storylines and we commend the imaginative graphics. We wish we could reward you all, …
13 “Type A” ladies make up a fun-loving family of dispatchers. However, as expected, with family comes the love, laughter, chaos and curse words. These life-saving lassies may hug your neck one minute and butt …
Dhahran 911 Emergency Center is celebrating the National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, Showing their commitment and essential contribution in protecting lives and assets to fulfill Saudi Aramco vision “Make Saudi Aramco the most secure place …
Every year, we decorate the 911 center as a particular theme. This year it is outerspace. Every day, the shifts wear different theme clothing (keeping it with the space theme). We have semi annual training …
A band of dispatchers from different walks of life endure a 3 am Sunday shift under the intensified pressure as public scrutiny grows, amplifying their responsibilities in an expanding county. This disparate group includes a …
President Biden issued a letter recognizing this year’s National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.
A message from Assistant Secretary of Commerce Alan Davidson of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in honor of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.
For several years, alarm company dispatcher Justin has tried to convince Morgan, a veteran 911 dispatcher that he is worthy of dispatching at a 911 console. When Justin is finally accepted into the academy of …
Williamson county was known as a tight-knit community and low crime rate. But that all changed when a group of 11 dispatchers at the local 911 center were caught in a scam that would leave …
Congresswoman Matsui is a strong advocate for 9-1-1 professionals, as demonstrated by her support for classifying them as “protective service occupations” via the 9-1-1 SAVES Act and her leadership with the Emergency Reporting Act, …
A dispatcher just out of training at Grand Forks PSAP must receive the help of an incarcerated 9-1-1 abandoner to uncover the mystery of the serial 9-1-1 open liner, a madman who has been calling …
On behalf of the Board of Directors, membership community, and staff of The Monitoring Association (TMA), it is with great joy that we extend our best wishes to APCO International, its leadership, and its members …
Atlanta 911’s ECC Movie is “The Usual Suspects.” The plot is that on any given day, you can catch co-workers mentoring and encouraging one another, stepping up where needed, and working like a well-oiled machine. …
We are celebrating NPSTW with a theme of “Harry Potter World” and are hosting the ROMO House Cup. We have a photo booth, ‘pin the face on the HP character’ game, Trivia, photo scavenger hunt …
Our dispatch center is like the cartoon Aladdin. Nothing is as it seems and we are all diamonds in the rough. Like Aladdin, our center isn’t much- but we have a great view! We also …
Join the Greene County crew as they stumble their way through their shift song. Begin the day with the hit single “Why does this always happen at shift change” round out the morning with “No …
Each year the second week in April is known as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week and a chance for the over 100,000 public safety telecommunicators working in emergency communications centers (ECCs) across the globe to …
Our final post focuses on getting recognition from partner agencies, government departments and the public. Here are some ideas suggested by other emergency communications centers.
Ace Ventura is a Dispatcher for Kosciusko County 911 Communications. One late Friday night he was working the console answer the calls of his community. What started out as a routine shift, turned into quite …
95% of responding agencies said they provide gifts to their public safety telecommunicators during NPSTW. In this post, we share ideas for gifts and how they are financed.
We usually have a week of themed potlucks; small gifts & mementos given to each dispatcher to support and encourage the communication center in all the long hours being called in to cover overtime and …
As the 4th of July holiday was in full swing, 911 calls were flooding the center, it was evident that a public service announcement was needed to clarify what is considered a legitimate emergency! An …
In the murky depths of a secluded Florida swamp, the moon cast an eerie glow upon the still waters. The air was heavy with the scent of decay and anticipation, as if nature itself held …
This is the story of Bucky the Dispatch Deer and the Island of Misfits, located at a special communications center near you. The Island is full of communication officers from all walks of life, some …
“Dispatch and the Prisoner of Azkaban” centers around the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office and their life of being above jail book-in. Amidst the backdrop of escalating tensions within the dispatch center when inmates bang on …
It takes each person in a communications center to make the job work. Each perspective helps, every second matters, and all calls are important. This is just another day in the lives of our dispatchers. …
Plot Summary: In a small town four dispatchers were receiving strange calls of activity from an abandoned house. They came together unknowingly that they would have to solve the mystery, however in doing so they …
In this county, dispatch is viewed as a mysterious oracle. All knowing, but only ever heard and never seen. It has been said, anyone who visits The Unseen never come back. People say it’s because …
Theme days are a fun and inexpensive way to celebrate. In this post, we share the answers to the question: Do you celebrate theme days? If so, what have been some of the staff’s favorite days in which to participate?
They were promised a shiny new building to call home. They never realized what they would have to go through to get it .… It’s late February, all staff has been moved to a remote …
Plot Summary: “Dispatch Mavericks: Code Red Skies” takes us into the adrenaline-fueled world of the Westerville 9-1-1 dispatch center, where the dispatchers are the Top Guns of emergency response. Inspired by the iconic film “Top …
Ordinary LEGO Dispatchers who always follow the rules, are mistakenly – or is it correctly???- identified as special — extraordinary beings and the keys to saving the world. They find themselves drafted into a fellowship …
Sleepy little towns never imagine that they could be the site at which the end of the world begins. So when the undead begin their hostile takeover by first infecting the Georgetown Police Department, the …
Disclaimer: All of the names and places have been changed to protect the innocent. I mean, who cares? It’s just a romantic musical, right? Big John Johnson, the Sheriff of Josh County, Mississippi, has been …
Luz has been working MF Dispatch for 21 years, Deb for 17. Over the years there has been a lot of turnover, and now they are just trying to get through the days until they …
“We don’t know who you are. We don’t know what you need, yet. But we have a very particular set of skills. Skills we have acquired over a collection of very long careers with very …
Synopsis: When the Caller takers and dispatchers at the Prince Albert PSAP all wanted to do was finish off their 12hr day shift without a hitch – being it is the May long weekend – …
It was one of those nights, the kind where exhaustion threatens to overwhelm even the most vigilant minds. Toiling away in the dimly lit 911 center, the dispatchers struggle to stay alert. Their partners, lost …
If you say it, they will hate you. In Eastern Washington, a group of Emergency Telecommunicators are disturbed when a probationary employee comes on shift saying, “Hey it’s quiet in here tonight.” He doesn’t believe …
I think we are like the breakfast club, because we work with different departments and different teams, and like in the breakfast club we all have to work together in different ways in order to …
In the heart of Houlton, Maine, lies the Houlton Regional Communication Center, a 9-1-1 dispatch hub known for its quirky team of dispatchers. This tight-knit group of misfits may not wear proton packs, but they …
It’s Christmas time and Westcom is preparing for the easiest season yet! However, things never run smoothly for Westcom and its telecommunicators. Westcom’s good luck quickly runs out as they are hounded with difficult callers …
Synopsis: In the quirky realm of Bossier Parish, a law enforcement dispatch center faces an absurd and chaotic challenge – constant calls from alarm monitoring centers and relentless prank callers. Welcome to the darkly humorous …
In the bustling metropolis of Red Deer, the emergency personnel is on the frontline, battling against the chaos and unpredictability of the city’s emergencies. At the heart of this controlled chaos is the Red Deer …
Picture this – right in the heart of our bustling city, a remarkable group of dispatchers transforms into the “Dispatch Heroes.” Led by the quick-witted and sharp Lead Dispatcher Emma, these communication champs are on …
An oddball dispatcher and their associate attend the APCO conference in Las Vegas at the Circus Circus. Fighting a cold, the dispatcher takes an excessive amount of cough medicine to try and attend the conference. …
In the heart of a bustling city lies the nerve center of emergency response: the 911 communications center. Here, a diverse team of dedicated operators, dispatchers, and supervisors work tirelessly around the clock to answer …
Ole Jim “Hurtin” Burton pulls his dust-covered Peterbilt into the Downtown Metered Lot deep in the late-September night. He’s been hauling a load all the way from Oxnard and all he has left is a …
Picture this: The scene is set, the lights are dimmed down low in the Emergency Communications Center. Along with a faint hum of the computers, always powered, always doing their job, comes a distinct murmur …
Sometimes, all you know about a movie ahead of time are the names and plot summaries of the films and maybe the actors. You might not know what is to come until you go into …
In February 2024, APCO’s Member & Chapter Services Committee (MCSC) surveyed chapters about how they celebrate National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week. The survey included questions about financing NPSTW, theme days, gifts, public recognition and more. …
Thank you to all who participated in the NPSTW 2023 contest “Who Is Your Sidekick or Super Team?” We loved reading so many compelling stories from our favorite superheroes. All of the entries demonstrated the …
What does a team of superheroes look like? Walk into the University Of Miami’s Public Safety Communications Command Center on any given day to find out. Slyly disguising themselves behind neatly pressed Class A shirts …
On Friday, April 22, 2022 at 3:20 in the afternoon, the Office of Unified Communications received 299 calls within minutes from teachers, students, parents, and those passing by reporting a shooting incident at the Edmund …
Have you ever had to run a 24/7 operation with only 3 people, well I have. Our agency was hit hard when COVID hit and we lost our main supervisor. I had to take his …
Caroline was my first training officer and then my partner when released. She has had my back since day 1 and pushed me to be the telecommunicator that I am now. She also played a …
Hello to all the dispatch community, I just want to acknowledge the best sidekicks ever, Trish and Jaclyn, who have dispatched solo for 2 years at Mount Rainier National Park. Rachel and I just started …
Our 4.5-person day-shift team (3 full timers, 1 almost out of training, and 1 O.G. ((Old Gal in someone’s words)) “retired” and works more hrs. than most 😊) is beyond FANTASTIC and we work together …
We’ve been A1 since day 1! She’s the peas to my carrots, the yin to my yang, and the Barnacle Boy to my Mermaid Man. There may be 10 years (and maybe a few months) …
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