They are the calm voice on the other end of the line when everything else is falling apart. And most of us never think about them until we need them.
This week is National Telecommunicators Week, and two dispatchers from the Galesburg/Knox County 9-1-1 Center joined Galesburg's Morning News Friday morning — along with Galesburg Police Chief Kevin Legate — to talk about what the job actually looks like from the inside.
Ashley Aldridge and Samantha Swanson have both been dispatchers since 2017. Chief Legate called dispatchers the backbone of the first response system, responsible for initiating over 90% of all critical incidents.
Topics covered in this interview:
- What drew Ashley and Samantha to dispatching — and why they stayed
- The 16-week training process and what it takes to be ready
- What a shift actually looks like — 12 hours, four to five dispatchers, city and county traffic all at once
- The stress, the adrenaline, and the drive home in silence
- The hardest part — finishing a call and never knowing how the story ended
- Common misconceptions, including the limits of phone tracking technology
- When you should — and shouldn't — rely on scanner apps
- The simple rule on when to call 911
The Galesburg/Knox County 9-1-1 Center has a team of 20 dispatchers serving the city and all of Knox County. To reach 9-1-1 in an emergency, call or text 911.
Click here to Watch on YouTube
Related: 'We are actual people': Galesburg dispatchers open up during National Telecommunicators Week