“When we get a 911 call, it could be something as little as someone needing help back up because they fell down to a very big accident,” said Samantha Crawford, who has been a dispatcher in Ogle County for 3 years.
“I’ve always wanted to be in a field that helped people, and I wasn’t really sure how I wanted to go about doing that. I actually got the chance to come in and sit with a dispatcher one day and kind of just fell in love with it, and I’ve been doing it ever since,” she said.
Crawford said the toughest part of the job is finding closure.
“We’re the first person that they talk to when they call 911 and they’re having some type of emergency. And we’re trying to help these people. But then once responders get there, our job is done and we might not know what happened to that person that we were comforting for five, ten, fifteen minutes, depending on how long it takes responders to get there,” she said.
Sheriff Brian VanVickle said it takes a special person to handle the pressure.
“It is a difficult job. It requires a special person to be able to bring calm to those phone calls and to provide reassurance to people,” he said.
Crawford said not knowing what the next call may bring keeps her picking up the line.
“You really don’t know what every day is going to be. It can be a simple day of the same stuff you do every day, or it can be stuff you’ve never encountered,” she said.
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