Annually, thousands of telecommunicators, dispatchers, and communications officers across the country are honored during the second full week of April during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.
Fifteen such “comm” officers and supervisors so honored this week are the voices on the other end of the telephone for 9-1-1 and non-emergency calls answered at Lincoln County Communications, the public safety answering point for the county’s various fire departments, law enforcement agencies, and ambulance services.
Additionally, these comm officers take calls and dispatch for Pittston, Randolph, West Gardiner and Farmingdale’s fire departments.
All told, Lincoln County Communications serves roughly 45,000 full-time residents, with that number ballooning in the summer months, according to Communications Director Tod Hartung.
Hartung said he doesn’t think there is always a full appreciation of what goes on at LCC.
“Folks think nothing of calling 9-1-1, it’s three numbers,” he said. “It’s good to let people know there are faces behind these voices that they hear, and they have lives and they have families and they have problems.”
He encourages anyone who sees someone walking around with a 9-1-1 logo on their shirt to thank them for their effort.
“It’s not a lot of fanfare, but we just want people to know they have 15 folks here who really care about what happens in Lincoln County,” Hartung said. “The folks like what they do. They take it seriously.”
Check out an interview with Communications Supervisor Rob Bickford and Officers Tara Jones and Pam Reed in the April 18 print edition and e-edition of The Lincoln County News.
