Warren County proclaims April 13–19 National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week; dispatchers describe staffing and technology updates

Warren County Commissioners on an unspecified meeting date proclaimed April 13–19 as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week and received a presentation from Melissa Borer, director of emergency services, on the county dispatch center's staffing, recent technology upgrades and call volumes.

Borer told commissioners that the communications center is currently short staffed and outlined how the center covers 24-hour operations. "We're down 8 currently," she said, and later noted the staffing level had at one point been "10." She described the county's four-shift schedule and how staff are assigned extra hours when shifts are short: "they will either get forced in to stay an extra 4 hours or come in. And we also have on call, so they get paid to be on call."

The presentation highlighted two recent technology changes. Borer said the center recently enabled CAD-to-CAD interoperability with neighboring jurisdictions, which she said "is a huge time saving when we need mutual aid" because requests for aid now flow directly between computer-aided dispatch systems instead of requiring phone calls. She said that interoperability rolled out about two weeks before the meeting. On text-to-911, Borer recounted a case in which a person texting 911 from a vehicle allowed officers to locate and stop a driver who was allegedly intoxicated.

Dispatch staff also described daily operational details. On call distribution and answering times, Borer said the center uses automatic call distribution to rotate incoming calls and that the center's answering times remain "under the national average." A separate speaker in the presentation noted the national average as about "90 seconds, I think." Borer said the center received more than 325,000 calls last year: "We did over 325,000 calls last year." She also described frequent accidental 911 calls from Kings Island on busy days and said recent software changes can send a text to a caller to confirm whether a response is needed, which often reduces unnecessary officer dispatches.

The commissioners presented a proclamation to dispatch staff and invited a photo; staff members in the room included Deputy Director Jesse Madden, training coordinator Samantha Hall, training supervisor Brandy Cooper and a group of new trainees. Commissioners thanked staff for their service during the proclamation.

Why it matters: County dispatchers coordinate emergency response countywide; staffing shortages and technology interoperability affect response capacity and mutual-aid coordination with neighboring jurisdictions. Commissioners' proclamation recognized the work of telecommunicators and provided an opportunity for staff to brief elected officials on current operational challenges and technology upgrades.

The meeting record does not show a formal recorded vote on the proclamation; commissioners announced the proclamation and presented it to staff during the session.