Agenda 04-16-24; 8-b - Public Safety Telecommunicators Week Proclamation

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1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: April 16, 2024 Action Agenda Item No. 8-b SUBJECT: Public Safety Telecommunicators Week Proclamation DEPARTMENT: Emergency Services ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Kirby Saunders, Emergency Services Proclamation Director, 919-245-6123 Christopher Ward, Division Chief— Public Safety Communications, 919- 245-6139 PURPOSE: To approve a proclamation recognizing the week of April 14 - 20, 2024 as Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in Orange County, and highlighting them as First Responders for the amazing work they do throughout the year. BACKGROUND: Every year across the nation, the second full week of April is dedicated to the professional women and men who serve as public safety telecommunicators. First conceived by Patricia Anderson of the Contra Costa County (California) Sheriff's Office in 1981, this practice was recognized by Representative Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts) in what became House Joint Resolution 284 to establish "National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week". With the continued efforts of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International and the National Emergency Number Association, the act to recognize public safety telecommunicators became a permanent proclamation in 1994. Each day hundreds of Orange County residents and those passing through rely on the expertise and dedication of public safety telecommunicators. These professionals help save countless lives by answering emergency calls, dispatching law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical personnel and equipment, as well as providing support to the residents of and visitors to Orange County. Their skills in high-pressure situations assist in providing rapid emergency response, aid, and compassion in times of great distress and critical decision-making within seconds. Orange County Public Safety Communications is the primary answering point for all emergency and non-emergency service calls in the County. In 2023 NC Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) answered 7.2 million 9-1-1 calls. Orange County Public Safety Telecommunicators answered 87,427 9-1-1 calls and handled over 87,540 administrative calls. 95.48% of 9-1-1 calls were answered within ten seconds. The telecommunicators dispatched over 82,000 calls for service with an average of five (5) telecommunicators on-duty. The public safety communications center operates twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred sixty-five days a year, with a staff of thirty-one (31) full-time Public Safety Telecommunicators.