Blog

Somewhere right now, a dispatcher is keying up on the radio. Somewhere a unit is responding. Somewhere a citizen is being helped because two professionals on opposite ends of a radio knew exactly what to say and how to say it. This is an article about that. It is also...

did not start my career in 911. There was no 911 yet. I started by answering emergency calls at a time when doing so was considered useful not only because someone needed to respond to emergencies, but because it gave police agencies something else they badly needed:...

As states across the country continue their transition to Next Generation 911 (NG911), one of the most critical — and often underappreciated — components of that journey is Geographic Information System (GIS) data. A recent 911 committee meeting highlighted just how...

A resource for public safety professionals, supervisors, and agency leadership When I was a director, my dispatchers came to me with a request. They wanted a comfort animal in the center — a dog, a cat, maybe even a fish tank full of fish. They were passionate about...

Thinking About Moving from Dispatcher to Supervisor? Let’s Talk. This topic gets a ton of attention. So much attention, in fact, that we dedicated three whole podcasts to it! In our first episode, we broke down what makes dispatchers and supervisors different, and the...

Leesa Ferrell works at Equature and sends out amazing reminders to the staff each week to keep us grounded and focused. She sent out an email about being our own unreliable narrators in our own lives recently and I was captivated. I decided to pass the story on with...

By - Cherie Bartram, ENP For the past several years, I have written articles honoring the work done by 911 Emergency Telecommunicators.  I have so much pride in what you all do.  I was one of you, and I will feel that calling and the honor that it was to be part of...

The Critical Questions: Why 911 Call-Takers Hold Lives in Their Hands Jan 2, 2026 I ran across a crime documentary, which led me down a path on a remarkable woman named Ann Burgess.  Dr. Burgess is known for her work that focused on questions for victims of trauma and...

Is It True? As our kids grew up over the years, we often played two truths and a lie.  We sometimes switched it up and played it differently but it always made me laugh, a bit uneasily sometimes at the outrageous things the kids would say that I thought was a lie,...