The Dallas County Supervisors signing a proclamation for National Telecommunicators Week with members of the Dispatch Center; photo by Joe Cerwinske

At the recent Dallas County Board of Supervisors meeting, they signed a proclamation accepting April 9-15 as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

Board Chair Kim Chapman read the proclamation, which outlined the duties and importance of the members of the Dallas County Dispatch Center. Sheriff Chad Leonard spoke during the meeting, showing his appreciation for the telecommunicators. “They are the first-line of defense that we have here in Dallas County. You make a 911 phone call, or you call our landline, and you get these individuals back here. What a job. I know I couldn’t sit there and do that. Hats off to all of you dispatchers. (I’m) proud to work with every one of you, and I’m glad you work for Dallas County.”

The Dispatch Center recently moved into a new facility and Director of Communications Terry McClannahan was complimentary of his staff in handling all the changes. “I just want to tell you how proud I am of our dispatch. They’ve had a lot of change in the last year and a half. Moving to a new center, all new systems that we’ve enabled into our center to allow us to use technology to its fullest and help protect the citizens of Dallas County. Each one of these folks, they train a lot. They do a tremendous job 24 (hours a day), 7 (days a week), 365 (days a year).”

There are 13 people who work in the Dallas County Dispatch Center, three of which were on hand to be recognized by the Supervisors.