Clay County law enforcement shows appreciation to 911 dispatchers
Last Friday, local law enforcement showed their love and appreciation to its dispatchers with a 911 awards ceremony at the Clay County Emergency Management Agency.
In conjunction with National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, Clay County EMA Director Torrey Williams wanted to show his team how thankful he is for them and the job they do each and every day.
He stresses how big of a role dispatchers play in their everyday job.
“A lot of the time, they don't have closures on different calls; they are the first person you talk to whenever you dial 9-1-1, so they are the frontline workers and they relay that information to law enforcement,” said Williams. “But whenever you do that, they don't necessarily know any information as far as call closures, so that weighs on them a lot. Not only that, but they're often forgotten about. A lot of the time, you'll hear about the firemen saving people out of a burning building. But how did they get there? That's what we want to celebrate.”
For Telecommunicators Week, the local dispatchers got the week off in a show of appreciation for everything they do.
“We should probably do it a whole month rather than just a week, but that's a lot of weight to put on one person or a group of people to know that the people's lives of, not only the community, but the people who are coming through and the responders, that's all within their hands,” Williams said.
During the awards ceremony on Friday, Williams gave out food, gifts, trophies, and certificates of appreciation to the dispatchers he and his team are thankful for.