National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week April 8-14

Posted on Thursday Mar 22, 2012

HELP CELEBRATE NATIONAL PUBLIC SAFETY TELECOMMUNICATOR WEEK, SAVE LIVES AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Each year, the second week of April is designated by Congress as National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week. This week is dedicated to the men and women who serve as public safety telecommunicators. Here at the Evanston Police Department, we want to thank these typically anonymous and under appreciated professionals for the critical, and sometimes “unsung” work that they do – day in and day out:

Perry Polinski (31 years of service)
Lynn Fishman (22 years) 
Michael Stonequist (21 years) 
Daniel Capesius (21 years) 
Richard Clucas (13 years) 
Christopher Voss (13 years)
Curt Kuempel (12 years) 
Joe DesJardins 12 years)
Tory Wideman(9 years) 
Jesse Ramsay (8 years) 
Linda Thompson (8 years) 
Carl Hasten (7 years) 
Jeffrey Holdren (5 years) 
Lyndsey LaLonde (3 years) 
Brian Drake (2 years)
Heather Cooper (5 months)
Karl Witt (9 weeks)
Elisabeth Krebs (9 weeks)

THESE SIMPLE TIPS COULD SAVE A LIFE WHEN DIALING 911 FROM A WIRELESS DEVICE:

  • Stay calm and speak clearly.
  • Tell the 911 call taker the specific location of the emergency (address, street intersection, landmarks, highway mile marker), your cell phone number, the nature of the emergency and the type of assistance needed.
  • Stay on the line until the 911 call taker has obtained all of the information that is needed.
  • If the signal is lost and you are disconnected, call back right away.
  • If you are in a moving vehicle when calling 911 from a cell phone, be sure to stop the vehicle. It is difficult to obtain all of the information needed if you are getting further from the emergency.
  • IF YOU DIAL 911 BY MISTAKE, STAY ON THE LINE. If you hang up, we have to call you back. If you do not answer, we may have to send an officer to confirm that you are all right. Unfounded calls waste not only the time of the telecommunicator, but also patrol officers.

NEVER THROW AWAY A CELL PHONE:

  • They contain toxic materials such as lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, beryllium, lithium or antimony that can pollute the environment.
  • Old cell phones can save lives because, although they are uninitialized (no service contract), the FCC requires that they MUST STILL BE ABLE TO DIAL 911!

    This means that you can:
  1. Keep it charged and in a safe place in your car or home so you have the ability to call 911 in an emergency if your active phone is stolen or damaged.
  2. Donate it to a domestic violence organization in your area.

NEVER LET A CHILD PLAY WITH A CELL PHONE WITHOUT FIRST REMOVING THE BATTERY

Since uninitialized cell phones can still dial 911, the telecommunicator may hear crying, screaming, the TV, or nothing, which may result in the location of the call being determined and officers being dispatched to verify that there is no emergency.

You can also turn in old cell phones to:

  • Sprint “Project Connect” (who will recycle them and turn the net proceeds into supporting a website promoting online safety for kids www.4netsafety.com)
  • Verizon's “HopeLine” program which supports victims of domestic violence
  • AT&T's “Cell Phones for Soldiers,” an initiative that uses funds from recycled cell phones to buy prepaid phone cards for active duty military members.

If you follow these simple steps, you will help the environment, and, save lives. The bottom line is, THE TIME PUBLIC SAFETY TELECOMMUNICATORS SPEND ON FALSE, ABANDONED OR PHANTOM 911 CALLS IS TIME THAT SOMEONE WITH A REAL LIFE-THREATENING EMERGENCY MAY BE ON HOLD AND “SECONDS COUNT IN SAVING LIVES.”