Every year during the second week of April, the telecommunications personnel in the public safety community, are honored.

So for this year, April 11-17 is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

This week honors telecommunications who are the first link in the chain of emergency police, fire, and medical responses to those in need.

If you have ever been a victim or witness to a crime, involved in a motor vehicle crash, reported a fire, or needed emergency medical assistance, you most likely have called 9-1-1. The reassuring voice who answered that 911 call was a “Telecommunicator,” also more commonly known as a Public Safety/911 Dispatcher.

National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week began in California in 1981 and quickly grew to a nationally recognized event. In 1990, the United States Congress designated the second full week of April each year as a time to remember the critical role dispatcher are tasked with in keeping communities and citizens safe.