NELA celebrates National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week

WEST MONROE, La (KTVE/KARD) – National Public Safety Telecommunicators week is in full force as local emergency agencies recognize the heroes under the headsets.

The honorary week began in 1981 in the state of California and has continuously spread across the nation over 43 years. KTVE/KARD spoke with the Director of the Ouachita Parish 9-1-1 Communications District, Jade Gabb, on what this week stands for.

Public safety telecommunicators week honors our 911 call takers, our emergency call specialist, our police and fire dispatchers, all of our heroes under the headset. We just want to tell them thank you for what they do day in and day out, 365 days a year, 24/7, rain or shine.

Jade Gabb, Director at Ouachita Parish 9-1-1

The week long celebration is sponsored by The Association of Public Safety Communications – International, also known as APCO. According to the APCO website, the association is the world’s oldest and largest public safety organization.

The event also gives employees the opportunity to participate in a themed work week. KTVE/KARD spoke with Gabb about this years theme.

Our theme for this year across the nation is movie day. So we have a movie red carpet set up here at the center where they can take pictures and do things to highlight the week and kind of step outside of the norm.

Jade Gabb, Director at Ouachita Parish 9-1-1

Gabb also mentioned how thankful he is for the local emergency call specialist and dispatchers for the work they do. The call center receives nearly 100,000 9-1-1 calls per year. That number breaks down to around 250 calls per day and roughly 12 to 14 calls per hour.