Earlier this month, the Smyth County Board of Supervisors honored the county’s emergency dispatchers, also known as Public Safety Telecommunicators, for their vital lifesaving work.
A resolution adopted to recognize the dispatchers for National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week acknowledged that dispatchers are “the first and most critical contact our citizens have with emergency services.”
Noting that emergencies happen 24 hours a day, the resolution said that “the protection of life and preservation of property and… the safety of our law enforcement officers and firefighters is dependent upon the quality and accuracy of information obtained from citizens who contact the Smyth County emergency communications center.”
The document said dispatchers “are the single vital link for our law enforcement officers and firefighters by monitoring their activities by radio, providing them information and ensuring their safety.”
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It also said the dispatchers “have contributed substantially to the apprehension of criminals, suppression of fires and treatment of patients in need; and… each dispatcher has exhibited compassion, understanding and professionalism during the performance of their job in the past year.”