National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week- CONTEST

The following are the nominations submitted for this year's contest. In honor of National Telecommunicator's Week, we thought we would share the following words and amazing stories submitted by your fellow Arkansas APCO Members:

Megan Muncie, Fayetteville Police Department
In December 2019, Officer Stephen Carr #413 was shot and killed while sitting in his patrol vehicle behind the department. In the weeks that followed, the amount of support our agency received from neighboring agencies is beyond words. Members of the University of Arkansas Police Department dispatch staff worked our positions during the funeral and their manager catered food for us a couple of times. The Washington County Sheriff's Office dispatch also sent assistance and catered food. Their officers worked the streets during memorials.

Lexie Wilson, Bentonville Police Department
Rogers PD is always considered to be a good neighbor. From making sure our officers are backed when we mosy into their city to helping with agency assists, they are there to help us through it all. The group of Dispatchers that Rogers PD has is next-to-none. When we had our officer-involved shooting a couple of months ago, I knew that if I was struggling emotionally or mentally, I could reach out to a handful of ladies who would be there to listen to me no matter the time of day.

Jeff Presley, Jonesboro Police Department
March 28 2020 The City of Jonesboro Arkansas was hit by a tornado causing millions in damage with several injuries, Our neighboring E911 center from Paragould Arkansas stepped up and sent help for our center. We are so grateful to have our E911 teams that care about others. Thanks You.

Halee Jackson, Fayetteville Police Department
On December 7th, 2019, Officer Stephen Paul Carr was shot and killed in the back lot of the Fayetteville Police Department. While I was not here at the time of the incident, I still would like to commend the Washington County Sheriff's Office for being there in our time of need. When the incident happened, they were listening to our radio on one of our back up channels. One of the dispatchers in the room at the time heard the "officer down, shots fired" calls, and immediately sent deputies up to the Fayetteville Police Department. Whenever I arrived at work at 2am, 4 hours after the incident, the deputies were still here and were helping with perimeter and other things that needed to be taken care of during this critical incident. Ever since that incident, those dispatchers have been some of our best friends. We always had a great relationship, but their endless support means so much to us and our agency. They checked in on us daily for quite some time, they still check in on us, and participate in fundraisers and events that are in Stephen's name. I cannot say enough good things about the dispatchers that work for WCSO. We are really blessed to have a great working relationship with our immediate neighboring agency.

Janelle Esposito
We had a devastating tornado hit. our community in March 2020. I was fortunate enough to be at work the time it did. It was a time to see even during the peak of COVID how everyone including agencies around us coming together to assist one another in love. I had never seen such love demonstrated before in such a grand scale. Neighbor agencies worked our mobile command for the command post so we could still be there for the day to day calls for service. I am so grateful for every single fire department, police department, and dispatch center that came over to us to assist.

Donny R. Ivie,  Jackson County
THEY CAME IN AND PROVIDED ASSISTANCE WITHOUT EVEN HAVING TO ASK. WORKED TOGETHER JUST LIKE A POCKET ON A SHIRT.

Stacy Elliott, Springdale Police Department
It was not long after I started at the agency, and one of our officers passed away from cancer... Washington County's Deputies helped us catch calls so that our officers could attend her funeral service. As a new dispatcher, that made a huge impact on me; showed me just how this new family of law enforcement supports each other when they are in need:)

Jody Balentine, White County
The Searcy Police Department is our secondary PSAP. They are always there for us offering to help if we have a major incident. They monitor our channel and if they hear something they are picking up the phone and offering their assistance to us. The Searcy dispatch center is always right there waiting to help if needed.

Jordan Overland, Fayetteville Police Department
I remember a work week that was particularly terrible to begin with and progressively got worse throughout the week. I forget which day of the week it was when we had a "suspicious package" scare at our building but I do recall it being at the height of all the bad calls and extra long shifts during that timeframe. We ended up having to evacuate and we found ourselves at our county agency trying to set up our suitcase radio and reroute terminal traffic/phone lines. Amid all of that chaos, the dispatchers who work there, our colleagues, our friends were there for us when we needed it. They were quick to clear room for us, setup a mobile hotspot that we definitely didn't forget to grab (lol), and even politely answer all of our ridiculous questions about how their consoles worked so we could get comfortable. I truly love the professional relationship my agency has with them, but I also love the personal relationship I developed with them following that incident. It's safe to say I don't feel worried about having to evacuate anymore.

Brandi Moore, Central EMS- Fayetteville
We work with our neighbors fluidly every single day. We are grateful for their cooperation with us.

Nicole Jueal, Randolph County
Lawrence County is always there for us when we need them. Whether it be in some type of disaster, phone lines going down, or just in our time of need, we can always county on Lawrence County to have our backs.

Taylor Sykes, Paragould
Our local State Troopers (troop C) and their dispatch is always ready to go any time we ask for it. All we have to do is call or terminal message them and they are not far. Most of the time the trooper is already scanning our radio channels and will take a report or handle a call so we do not have to tie up one of our officers. Having them definitely makes our work lives a little easier.

Kim Green, Little Rock
In February of 2021, Arkansas experienced an unprecedented snow event that effectively shut down the City of Little Rock for over a week. An estimated 12-15 inches of snow fell in two separate events. As one can imagine, this significantly impacted our telecommunicators ability to drive to and from work each day. However, with the assistance of the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office, the Saline County Sheriff's Office and the Arkansas State Police, Troop E, our out of town telecommunicators were transported to and from work, sometimes on a daily basis. The selflessness of these agencies to take time to support our operations, while managing their own emergency situations is the definition of living the Golden Rule. We will forever be grateful and indebted to these agencies for their sacrifices of service during such a difficult time for everyone.
Kim Green did write e-mail us to clarify that the PSAP she would like to nominate is Saline County Sheriff's Office. 

Maegan Elkins, Washington County Sheriff's Office
While we working with multiple great agencies in our area, I would like to highlight the Fayetteville Police Department. The dispatchers at the Fayetteville Police Department have shown that they are attentive, quick to act, and neighborly when it comes to assisting us with calls. I’d like to emphasize the times that they have monitored out radio traffic during high priority incidents and pushed the information out to their officers even before we had a chance to call. In these moments, their quick action has not only helped us out when we are swamped with calls but also helped make sure our deputies are safe. Specifically, there was an incident on December 18, 2020 where one of our deputies had initiated a traffic stop with a subject that was wanted on numerous felony charges. During the traffic stop, the male fled then got into a physical altercation with our deputy resulting in him pinning her to the ground. During the altercation, he continued to try to reach for her duty weapon. The sound of the sirens in the background from Fayetteville PD and our deputies reassured her that help was on the way. After hearing the sirens, she was able to fight until she could free herself. The quick and considerate action of the dispatchers at the Fayetteville Police Department was crucial to this call. Thank you for always having our backs!

Carla A Holcroft, Washington County Sheriff's Office
I would like to nominate Fayetteville CDC for always having our backs during an emergency situation. When we ask them to respond they will do it without hesitation. There have been times where their units are en-route before we have had a chance to call them. I am so proud to work along side all of the 911 Dispatch centers in Northwest Arkansas! I want to thank all of you guys for everything you do! A couple of examples are, Captain, Tion Augustine's shooting on March 15, 2016 and a fire/officer involved shooting in Farmington on June 24, 2016.

Tara Bryant, Fayetteville Police Department
Washington Co Sheriff's office is always there for us when we need them. Often times, they call us before we have time to request them, to let us know they have a deputy in the area just in case. It's hard to pick just one specific time when they have assisted us, as a few stand out in my mind. The hostage situation on Sunrise Mountain, the suicidal male on I49, and a few officer involved shooting within the last couple of years are the big ones. Our agencies work extremely well together and it's nice to know we can count on them!

Shelbi Peterson, Maumelle Police Department
I would like to thank Pulaski County Sheriff's Office for always being there for us when we're short-staffed; inundated with calls or if they just so happen to be driving around out jurisdiction, they always stop and check on my officers.

Seith E Redmon, Washington County Sheriff's Office
Shout out to Joe J. at SPTL! I have worked several successful pursuits with Joe when either WCSO or SPTL initiate. Joe is easy to communicate with during high stress situations and he is always a step ahead. "Call the ball".