Alan Burton recently sent me this letter, knowing that I'm a staunch supporter of
the week honoring Public Safety Dispatchers. I'm grateful to him for providing the
"real story" for us all. :)
February 7, 1997
When APCO got done with it (and bless their hearts for pushing it through when no one else would), it came
out as National Telecommunications Week (to honor ALL the people involved,
not just dispatchers -- and I'm quoting Ronnie Rand who told me that
personally), and IDW, International Dispatchers Week, as created by Dispatch
Monthly, to recognize dispatchers and controllers worldwide.
It was created, to the best of our assembled recollections, in 1980. The
date is less clear than the circumstances. Setting the scene: Contra Costa
County Sheriff's Dispatch (then known as "Comm 7" -- on the 7th floor of the
county admin building) shared the floor with Sheriff's administration.
During National Secretaries (sic?) Day, the sheriff's brass took ALL the
secretaries out to (a long) lunch, treated them to flowers and attention.
But the worst part was when they all went to lunch, all the divisional
secretaries programmed their phones to ring in the comm center. (At the
time, CCCSO had a staff of about 700-800; had a LOT of secretaries; and the
transferred phone load was substantial.)
Enter Patricia Anderson ("just a dispatcher") who (correctly) felt victimized
by the situation, and while the secretaries were out being wined and dined
that day in 1980, she stood up in the comm center and declared that the
second week of April in every year hence would be known as National
Dispatchers Week.
For the first several years, the only people in the world who celebrated NDW
were the CCCSO dispatchers, but they did it well. The brass participated,
they furnished a grand sheet cake, the place was decorated, the news media
received press releases, there was attention given as appropriate. Not big;
not little. Then other PD's in the area began to join in. APCO said they
weren't interested. But a group of dispatchers from North Carolina thought
it was worthwhile, and they put a resolution on an APCO ballot, and National
APCO was committed.
It took many years of hard work, and APCO (bless their hearts) beat up a lot
of congresspeople trying to get a resolution through Congress. First efforts
were not successful; later ones finally were. A lot of dispatchers in the
US thought the idea was silly (still do) and just didn't buy into the
concept. The brass, as a rule, couldn't care less. So it was a very large
struggle.
Strangely, it was not necessary to go through Congress to have the week
designated. Many "weeks" are "official" but do not have the approval of
Congress. But the fact is, Congress did bless the week three times,
resulting in Presidents Bush and Clinton resolving appropriately the same
number, and by the rules established, the Congress says the week is now
official and don't ever come back and haunt us again.
For the record, the first Congressional-Presidential action was in 1992, and
designated it as "National Telecommunications Week" -- which APCO said was
deliberate. The 1992 proclamation also noted that there are over 500,000
public safety telecommunicators, which APCO (who provided the source
information for the proclamation) has now said refers to the number of people
associated with and supporting public safety TCs. Actually there are only
about 75,000 dispatchers; 425,000 support personnel is a lot, eh?
Patricia Anderson is now retired and enjoying life. My claim to fame is that
I hired her, trained her, and personally gave her a copy of the first
proclamation signed by President Bush. What she did wasn't much. Just an
idea born in a moment of pique. But it was like a pin dropping, that was
heard around the world."
"It was started as National Dispatchers Week.
This year, the dispatcher recognized as "Dispatcher of the Year" for my Comm Center has been featured on two local television stations in short spots on the news, and a local newspaper wrote up a little bit about her, and what she does for the public.
© 1996 gryeyes@redshift.com
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