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