Unsung Heroes Get Their Due

Next week is dedicated to Novato’s often-overlooked heroes.

For the past several years, public safety agencies nationwide have recognized the pivotal role played by telecommunicators, dispatchers, communications operators and radio control personnel.

“Our team of dispatchers play a vital role in emergency response,” said Novato Police Dept. Lt. Jennifer Welch. “They are the link between people in need and the resources to help them.”

“Novato Police Department’s dispatching staff, Dean, Anamaria, Jessica, Regina, Katie, Joy, Anna, Kerryn, Liz, Mary, Victoria and Stacy, are amongst the finest in the North Bay, who work around the clock, all year long, to support their officers in the field and help keep the public safe,” states an NPD press release.

The week fetes all those people — by whatever job title — who utilize telephones, radios, computers and technical skill to provide support to law enforcement, fire services, emergency medical services and other governmental field personnel.

Each year, the second week of April is dedicated to the men and women who serve as public safety telecommunicators. In 1991, Congress proclaimed it as a nationally recognized week of recognition.

The Novato Police Department Communications Center celebrates this year’s National Telecommunicators Week April 14-20 in honor of their dedicated dispatchers who handled more than 63,000 calls last year.

“Our dispatchers are an irreplaceable link between citizens in need and the resources to help them,” Novato Police Chief Jim Berg said.  “They provide a human contact when people need it most.”

The Novato communications center dispatches Novato officers and coordinates with allied agencies for other law enforcement, fire services and emergency medical services response to the needs of the public in emergencies and on a routine basis.