April 6, 2001

PRESS RELEASE

To: Newsroom

For Immediate Release

Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer

Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137

Honor Your Public Safety Telecommunicators

National Public Safety Telecommunications Week, April 8-14

Each year, the second week of April is dedicated to the men and women who serve as public safety telecommunicators (911 dispatchers). These people ensure the safety of millions of citizens every day by coordinating the appropriate response for each caller’s need and offering immediate assistance to victims and responders alike.

The Shreveport Fire Department recognizes the valuable role that 911 Fire Communications Officers play in the day-to-day operations of their organization. The 33 members that comprise the Communications Division of the Fire Department are all highly skilled and technically trained to function independently in making command decisions regarding:

• Answering all Caddo Parish 911 calls - more than 200 thousand in 2000

• Providing emergency medical instructions to callers

• Deploying proper resources to an emergency

• Maintain status of each SFD unit

• Provide field support

• Dispatch fire/EMS calls to all nine Caddo Parish Fire Districts

• Ensure paramedics speak to physicians when needed

All Fire Communications Officers are certified Emergency Medical Dispatchers, have successfully completed Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) courses and Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) courses. APCO, formed in 1935, has a clear mission with a vision for the future. The mission statement includes the following objectives:

• To foster the development and progress of the art of public safety communications by means of research, planning, training and education.

• To promote cooperation between towns, cities, counties, states and federal public safety agencies in the area of communications.

• To represent its members before communications regulatory agencies and policy-making bodies as may be appropriate.

• To strive toward the end that the safety of human life, the protection of property and the civic welfare are benefitted to the utmost degree.

• To aid and assist in the rapid and accurate collection, exchange and dissemination of information relating to emergencies and other vital public safety function.

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