“Telecommunicators serve as a vital link between those in need and emergency response services,” Whitten said reading the proclamation. “(Telecommunicators) are responsible for alerting the public to potential threats, including AMBER Alerts, natural disasters, hazardous material incidents and other emergencies.”
As mentioned by Whitten, National Public Safety Telecommunications Week was started in 1981 by a dispatcher in a California county sheriff’s office after an incident when dispatch operators were suddenly inundated with an influx of calls due to the entire sheriff’s staff going to lunch. Patricia Anderson, a dispatch operator for the county, proceeded to give then-Sheriff Richard Rainey a piece of her mind. Later that day, the sheriff and undersheriff presented Anderson with a cake that read, “Happy Dispatcher Week.”
Following the incident, Anderson started an initiative that eventually was designated by Congress in 1991 as National Public Safety Telecommunications Week and was formally recognized by President Bill Clinton in a Presidential Proclamation in 1994.
According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were an estimated 105,200 public safety telecommunicators working across the United States.
This marks the first formal recognition by the City of Crestview honoring the weeklong celebration.
In 2020, the city unveiled a new Crestview Public Safety Dispatch Center, featuring five workstations for telecommunicators serving the Police and Fire Departments, who operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Consolidated Emergency Communications Center serves as the primary public safety answering point for the county. Its telecommunicators are responsible for dispatching for the Sheriff’s Office, Shalimar Police Department, Northwest Florida State College Police, Okaloosa County Emergency Medical Services, and 13 fire departments within Okaloosa County. In 2024, the center employed 54 full-time employees and handled 121,875 emergency calls and 172,148 non-emergency calls – an average of 806 calls per day.
In issuing the proclamation, Whitten urged residents to “recognize and express appreciation for the dedicated women who serve as a first line of communication in times of emergency.” The mayor went on to praise these individuals for their “commitment, professionalism, and unwavering services (which) are vital to the safety and well-being of (the) community.”
The City of Crestview is actively hiring communications operators. More information can be found on the city’s website.
