Brownwood honors 911 dispatchers during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, April 14-18, honors dispatchers who assess a situation and dispatch emergency services and law enforcement.

When the phone rings, someone is prepared to answer and assess calls for help. Brownwood 911 Dispatcher and shift supervisor Justin Storch stated that the job requires various skills.

“We’re gathering information, ensuring public safety, officer safety, and then protection of property,” Storch said. “As soon as we get a call, we have to decide what kind of call it is, and in seconds, get it on the board and get it out to an officer so they can respond as quick as possible.”

Dispatchers navigate chaos, occasionally having to deliver babies and provide CPR over the phone. Abilene Communications Manager, Lindsey Hoxsey, mentioned that this can be challenging.

“The harder ones are going to be CPR and stuff that deals with infants that don’t come out great. You know, whenever somebody wakes up next to somebody that’s passed away overnight, that they’ve been with for 60 years, those are pretty rough for us,” Hoxsey said.

As the job gains more public attention, Storch stated that discussing its mental health impact is increasingly important.

“We get them to the EMTs and firefighters to them and after that, we don’t hear anything else.  It can become emotionally difficult.  It can weigh on a dispatcher quite a bit.  One of the best things that we can do is have a good, strong support system, which we do from our officers, from our fellow dispatchers, and our families,” Storch explained.

Brownwood Lieutenant Art Sanders said it would be unimaginable in a world without dispatchers.

“It would be chaos. We wouldn’t know where we’re going. We wouldn’t have— it would be up to us to find things going on all the time. And we just can’t do that. You know, there’s only a limited number of officers out there prowling around the streets,” said Sanders. “They are the guys that are absolutely there all the time,” Sanders said.

Hoxsey said no matter the county, the overall vision is the same: to save lives and get people the help they need.

“Your worst day is our work day, and we want everybody to feel heard. And when they call, we want to make sure everybody feels like a priority. So we are here,” Hoxsey said.

In 2019, the state of Texas recognized dispatchers as first responders, allowing 911 operators to access the same benefits as law enforcement and emergency services.