VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Barnes County Dispatch is celebrating the second full week of April as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. This week, celebrated annually, honors the thousands of men and women who respond to emergency calls, dispatch emergency professionals and equipment, and render life-saving assistance to the world’s citizens.
The work of telecommunications professionals at Barnes County Dispatch is not often highlighted. In 2023, Barnes County Dispatch handled 42,395 calls into their dispatch center. 3,578 were emergency 911 calls, 24 Text to 911 Calls, and 247 emergency 911 hangup calls. Barnes County Dispatch entered a total of 19,339 calls for service for the 22 agencies they dispatch for.
Dispatchers have many responsibilities during a call and after receiving the call. Some of the tasks they are commonly performing while still taking the call or during initial dispatch are: Paging and notification of all responders to respond to a call for service, creating a call for service for each department responding to a call, documenting the initial description of the call, ongoing events that occurring in the calls, officer notes, etc., entering drivers licenses, entering suspect/victim information, performing status checks on all units regardless if they are assigned to a call or not, confirming and removing warrants for both Valley City Municipal and Barnes County District Courts, calling outside agencies to confirm warrants on subjects responders make contact with, entering stolen vehicles or property, entering missing people, sending ALERT Barnes County Messages, and more.
The average Barnes County Dispatcher spends their entire 12-hour shift with at least 2 calls for service open at any time.
Dispatchers are expected to be calm and caring during an emergency. From delivering babies on the side of interstate to providing CPR instructions to callers all over the telephone, your Barnes County Dispatchers are the calm in the chaos on your worst day. We send you help when you have nowhere else to turn and ensure you have the instructions and information you need in an emergency to help save lives.
Barnes County Dispatch has 1 opening to be a community Hero. Applications can be completed on ND Job Service and turned into the Barnes County Dispatch Center or emailed to smiller@barnescounty.us. If you have any questions on what it takes to be a 911 Dispatch hero on the Barnes County Team, you can call Dispatch Director/911 Coordinator Sarah Miller at 701-845-8187.