National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week recognition is especially important these days.
Prior to COVID we held a block party on the Friday before the end of Telecommunicators Week and invited all staff within the Police Department to come and celebrate with our telecommunications specialists, along with their families, and our retirees. Including the telecommunicators’ families was a big hit!
Working hard within our agency and with our vendors we were able to provide a BBQ dinner, and also secure a food truck that provided food, drinks, and snow cones. Our festivities also included games, prizes, raffles, and activities for all attending.
Our SWAT Unit, K-9 Unit, and Fire Department also teamed up to make our block party a success by providing entertainment. And we even hired a DJ who helped out with music, and games for our personnel and kids.
The past two years we haven’t been able to hold our block party due to COVID. But we still continue to celebrate.
For example, this year (once again), we’ll be celebrating with dispatch games, theme days, and food for all our personnel for the entire week! In addition, our command staff will pay a visit to our telecommunications center, as will our detectives, patrol, and other units within the police department. We try our hardest to make it a special week for our telecommunicators! We also provide gifts (e.g. t-shirt and small dispatch items) to all of our personnel.
We wouldn’t have been able to do all that we have done without the support of our patrol union groups, Citizen Academy and couple of vendors. It is always fun for me to watch our personnel laugh and have fun visiting with others within the department. While we continue to celebrate in our own special way, we can hardly wait to bring back our block parties again!
