When a Gillespie County, Texas, 911 dispatcher answered the phone on the Fourth of July and asked the caller the address of her emergency, the woman on the other end of the line did not respond with the name of a street.
“The Guadalupe River in Kerrville,” the caller said instead. “I need someone to take me seriously.”
Just one week after completing her training, Nashville 911 call taker Denise Dyer handled two major emergencies on back-to-back days. One involved a suspected cardiac arrest. The other, a baby being born.
August 5, 2025 Submitted by The South Shore Regional Emergency Communications Center
Executive Director Aaron Smith reports that the South Shore Regional Emergency Communications Center (SSRECC) was affected by an apparent cyberattack targeting one of its member communities, which brought down the center’s computer-aided dispatch software for most of the day this past Saturday.
And that’s before police or fire show up.
“Absolutely – any dispatcher who has taken a call from someone in need will tell you we are the first first-responder,” said Jamy Inglett, the Training & Compliance Supervisor for the City of Edmond’s Emergency Communications team. “We are usually the first point of contact in emergency situations – 911 – and we have to work with police, fire and medical to make sure we get the help that is needed headed that way.”
St. Cloud’s commitment to public safety has once again received international recognition. The St. Cloud Police Department’s 911 Communications Center has successfully renewed its accreditations as an Emergency Medical, Fire, and Police Dispatch Center of Excellence through the Board of Accreditation of the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch.
