When a call to 911 comes through, the answer at the other end is often a relief to Piedmont residents in need of help.The five dispatchers of the Piedmont Police Department handle emergency calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the city’s police and fire departments and rescue squad.
In honor of National Telecommunications Week April 13 through 19, The Journal wanted to honor the city’s dispatchers. National Telecommunications Week was designated in 1992 by congressional and presidential action.
Bobbie Beavers, Piedmont Police Department communications supervisor, said the job of a dispatcher is one that not everyone can do. “It takes somebody that has a heart to do this job,” she said. “Somebody that cares about the public and each individual person that rings that phone up there.”
Beavers said in past years, she’s seen a high turnover rate for dispatchers just because of the stressful nature of the job. “Some people get real nervous about holding someone else’s life in their hands,” she said.
But the current dispatchers of the police department have been there a combined 35 years. “I have seen a lot come and go, but here in the last few years it hasn’t been like that,” Beavers said.
Beavers got her start in
While Beavers said not just anyone can walk off the street and come in to do the job, she was an exception to the rule because she felt she found her purpose in life through the job. “I think everyone’s life has a calling and this is what I was supposed to do,” she said.
First shift dispatchers Barbara Cromer and Gary Dobson have been with the department a combined 12 years. Dobson previously worked at a 9-1-1 center in Georgia. “He’s turned out to be one the good ones,” Beaver said. Cromer had no previous dispatching experience before coming, Beaver said.
Second shift dispatchers Marie Kerr and Doris Ingram man the late-night calls to dispatch every day of the week. Ingram has been with the department since 2006. Kerr came to Piedmont Police Department in 2004 after previous dispatching experience at Anniston Police Department.
Beavers said when Ingram, the department’s most recently-hired dispatcher, interviewed for the job, she was impressed by her answer to one particular question. “I asked her why she wanted this job,” Beavers said. “And she told me, ‘This is my dream job.’ That girl came in and it’s like she had it in her. She knew exactly what to do.”
The Piedmont dispatchers stay busy answering calls for all kinds of requests, ranging from emergency response to questions about something going on in the community.
In March, the police department logged 1,258 contacts with the public, including 583 of those contacts as a result of a call to the dispatch office. Another 620 of the contacts were initiated by officers, and still required some sort of contact with the dispatch office by the officer, Beavers said.
Piedmont Police Chief Steven Tidwell said although dispatchers are often overlooked when it comes to recognition for the service of the police department, the job of a dispatcher is one of the most important.
“These dedicated men and women are the critical first link in getting help to the citizens who need it,” Tidwell said. “I truly appreciate the great job done by the communications officers of the Piedmont Police Department.”
While the dispatchers are mainly responsible for guiding the city’s police officers from call to call, Beavers said they also serve as a dispatch unit for the Piedmont Rescue Squad. Beavers said they receive more calls for ambulance service than they do for police or fire assistance.
Aside from all the numbers, Beavers said the job of a dispatcher boils down to one important fact. “If anyone in this community needs help, that’s what we’re here for,” she said. “They know when they call down here that somebody’s going to answer the phone, somebody that’s going to get them some help.”
