Cherokee County’s dispatchers celebrate national public safety telecommunicators week

RUSK, Texas (KETK) — Every day, dispatchers spend their shifts in a dark room filled with computer screens, waiting on calls for help. KETK’s Tori Bean spoke with Cherokee County officials to celebrate national public safety telecommunicators week.

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“It’s the lifeline to the community to receive the help that they need,” Julie Fletcher, captain of dispatch at Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, said.

The sheriff’s office has two people behind their phones at any given anytime.

“We dispatched for police, fire, and EMS for Cherokee county from Bullard to Wells, we receive all the calls for this county,” Fletcher said.

Sheriff Brent Dickson said they see between 16,000-18,000 calls a month. Last year 30,000 of them were dispatched. With a nationwide employee shortage, Dickson said they are blessed to not be shorthanded.

“We lose one we’ll gain another one, we’re fully staffed on our dispatch side,” Dickson said.

Dickson said the job is very demanding, and something he wouldn’t want to do.

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“They hear the cries and scream of children and wives and husbands, and they can’t do anything but send help via the radio,” Dickson said.

But for the 911 operators, the job is a way to help others.

“We come in each day and the days are differently, and every day that you go home you have helped someone,” Fletcher said.

And even though they aren’t the ones responding to the calls they are doing their part in keeping the community safe.

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