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Emergency communications specialist Nicholas Genchi mans his station in the Flagstaff Police Departments Dispatch Center Wednesday afternoon.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck and stay-at-home orders swept across the country, thousands of northern Arizona workers were sent home. But at the Flagstaff Police Department, 911 dispatchers continued to show up — even when the going got rough.
Now, more than 20 months into the pandemic, Flagstaff police officials are reflecting on a tumultuous period of dispatch operations that were anything but ordinary. From ongoing staffing concerns to navigating the changing public health landscape, long hours and mandatory overtime were an unavoidable reality…
