The April 17th Londonderry Town Council meeting began with a tribute to a special portion of the town’s fire department and police department.
In order to recognize the efforts of telecommunicators who help these departments run efficiently and effectively, a ceremony was held during the meeting to recognize them for their efforts.
The Telecommunications divisions help to provide both departments with helpful information via radio to any officers or firefighters on the field. For the police, the operators are tasked with providing assistance to 14-17 patrol officers, monitoring 8 frequencies on 3 different computers, allowing contact with local, state and federal law enforcement.
The Fire Department is responsible for anything from business calls to emergency calls concerning medical, fire-related or other incidents, not to mention data input, fire permits and so on. Full time associates are all Certified Emergency Medical Dispatchers, able to provide pre-arrival instructions until emergency personnel arrive on scene.
After calling the meeting to order, Council Chairman Tom Dolan brought forth Fire Chief Darren O’Brian and a representative of the Police Department, as Police Chief William R. Hart was away mourning the loss of a family member. The two then proceeded to highlight the hard work and dedication of the telecommunicators in their respective departments.
Chief O’Brian presented certificates to Elizabeth Mahom, Gerald Johnson, Robert Smard and Christopher Schofield for their efforts, saying that “they are the unseen heroes of what we do as a profession.”
The Police Department representative then handed his own certificates out to respective members of the police department, including Telecommunications Supervisor Bobby Jones, stating that “They’re voices are always heard, they’re words are always felt.”
The recipients then shook hands with the council members while receiving applause from those in attendance.