Mayor Nick Cox proclaimed April 12–18 as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in Minden during a ceremony held Monday, April 12, at the 911 dispatch office in the Webster Parish Courthouse.
The proclamation concluded “in honor of the men and women whose diligence and professionalism keep our city and our citizens safe.”
Angie Chapman, executive director of Webster Parish E-911 Communications, said the observance began in the 1990s as a way for telecommunicators to recognize their profession.
“It’s the second week of April, and we just celebrate ourselves,” Chapman said.
This year, dispatchers marked the occasion with a themed celebration. Chapman said the office adopted a fiesta motif, complete with a taco bar throughout the week, Spanish-style snacks, and decorations including sombreros. Games have also been played in Spanish using translation tools, adding to the atmosphere.
“There’s a prize piñata for whoever wins blackout Bingo this week,” Chapman said. “It’s just the way that we celebrate the people who do the work that they do.”
Webster Parish E-911 operates around the clock with four shifts staffed by two dispatchers each. Chapman said that staffing level typically meets the center’s needs, though surges can occur during major incidents.
“Most of the time, two people are enough to handle the call volume unless we get a call surge like an incident on the interstate and 50 people call at once,” she said.
The center is equipped to handle up to five calls simultaneously. Calls beyond that capacity may receive a message indicating all circuits are busy.
Chapman said dispatchers play a critical role in emergency response by gathering essential information and connecting callers to the appropriate services.
“Our job here is to get the location, the type of call, find out which agencies are going to be responding, and get that caller connected to those professional and certified dispatchers to handle that for law enforcement or EMS,” she said.
In addition to coordinating law enforcement and medical responses, the center handles all fire dispatching, requiring operators to collect more detailed information for those calls.
As the week continues, local officials said the recognition serves as a reminder of the essential, often unseen work performed by telecommunicators who serve as the first point of contact during emergencies.