Every year during the second week of April, this week April 12 through 18, the telecommunications personnel in the public safety community are honored. This week-long event, initially set up in 1981 by Patricia Anderson of the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office in California, is a time to celebrate and thank those who dedicate their lives to serving the public. It is a week that should be set aside so everyone can be made aware of their hard work and dedication.

The backstory of the day goes something like this, according to nationaltoday.com: "Sheriff Rainey of Contra Costa County wanted to treat all his administrative staff (then called secretaries) to lunch one afternoon, to show appreciation for their work, but did not realize that the administration’s lines should never go unanswered during business hours. At that time, it was a practice to forward all administration lines to dispatch after business hours, but the day Sheriff Rainey bought them lunch, the whole administration pushed their calls to dispatch at 11 am and recklessly left the building.

"The dispatchers were shocked to receive a higher-than-usual volume of calls. The supervisor called the admin department to find out what the problem was, only to have the call routed back to him because all of them had gone out for a feast! Angered, the supervisor sent a dispatcher to the admin department to see what was going on, who came back to tell the supervisor that the entire building was vacant. Although the staff came back at 1 pm and disconnected the auto-forward feature, a long-time dispatcher, Patricia Anderson, walked over to the administration side to give Sheriff Rainey an earful of what the dispatchers had gone through for two hours straight.

"An hour later, on the same day, a sheepish Sheriff Rainey walked into the dispatch department with a giant cake decorated with the words ‘Happy Dispatcher Week,’ launching an initiative that has now culminated into National Public Safety Telecommunications Week.”

Newtown Police Department took the opportunity to thank its staff on its Facebook page on April 14, and The Newtown Bee wanted to echo that and thank our dispatchers, who are the front lines dealing with Newtown residents who are experiencing some of their worst moments, from medical emergencies to vehicular accidents to having their homes broken into and more. The calm, detail-oriented individuals on the other end of the 911 call can be a lifeline to folks who may be anything but calm and focused. These are local heroes who help to save lives each and every day.