Watertown 911 Center

Submitted by LeeAnn Benthin

We are a smaller agency, employing 11 full time and (currently) 3 part time staff that run 24 hrs a day. We cover a 6 county area in NE South Dakota for 911 service and take routine calls for about half of those as well as the Watertown Police Dept, which is where our center is located. We run 3 8hr shifts. Our team has struggled in recent years with feeling that we aren’t appreciated, but also not wanting to ask for recognition because it’s not what the job is “about”. We all consider this a career vs. “just a job”. We have a very dedicated, well trained staff. We have great team work between the shifts and our full timers generally stick around for years, our low turn over rate is something we are very proud of. I am the lead on our day shift and would love to show my peers some recognition that they aren’t expecting. Thanks for the opportunity! Happy NPSTW!