PEORIA, Ill. – You might consider them the type of people who need to be recognized every week, not just this one.
They’re 911 dispatchers based in Peoria but serving seven law enforcement agencies, twelve fire departments and three EMA agencies.
It’s National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, and Peoria Emergency Communications Center Director Brandon Blayney says he has the best of the best.
“That can be stressful to be in a smaller space with six, seven, eight other people.” said Blayney. “But, anytime there is an event, they always come together and they work very well when there is…Peoria has a lot of crime, we do…and they work very well…whether it’s a shooting or a fire or something like that, they all work cohesively very well.”
Being a 911 operator can be a combination of surprising and stressful.
Damairus Reddick — one of Peoria’s dispatchers — says the job took him by surprise, even though he thought he knew what he was getting in to when he started five years ago.
“I originally dispatched for an ambulance company down in Saint Louis,” said Reddick. When we relocated back to Peoria with my family, I saw there was an opening. I thought it was similar, but it was completely different. But, it’s definitely something fun to do.
(Will Stevenson/1470 & 100.3 WMBD)
Reddick says he and other dispatchers rely on each other when things get tough or stressful, and having something other agencies may not have helps, too — two “quiet rooms” where call-takers can go and decompress if needed.
He’s one of 20 dispatchers in Peoria now, and the agency says it needs ten more.
“You have to, obviously, be able to manage your stress pretty well,” said Blayney. “You have to be able to be a person that can deal with not only an irate caller, but somebody in those stressful situations, you have to be able to tell yourself ‘I understand this is not necessarily directed towards me. This is about that situation.’ Put that aside, and gather that information as quickly and completely as you can, and get that out as quick as you can as well.”
Blayney says you don’t have to have any experience, as training is paid for.
CLICK HERE to apply for a telecommunicator position in Peoria.
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