BHPD Celebrates Public Safety Telecommunicator Week

April 12 - 18, 2009

In recognition of National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week, the Department honored its police assistants at a luncheon on Tuesday.  The Department is fortunate to have a seasoned telecommunications team, which has more than 47 years of combined experience.

Each year, the second full week of April is dedicated to the men and women who serve as public safety telecommunicators. It was first conceived by Patricia Anderson of the Contra Costa County (Calif.) Sheriff's Office in 1981 and was observed only at that agency for three years. Members of the Virginia and North Carolina chapters of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) became involved in the mid-1980s. By the early 1990s, the national APCO organization convinced Congress of the need for a formal proclamation. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) introduced what became H.J. Res. 284 to create "National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week." According to Congressional procedure, it was introduced twice more in 1993 and 1994, and then became permanent, without the need for yearly introduction.
– Dispatch Magazine Online