Emergency dispatchers recognized

WAUPACA – The week of April 12-18 has officially been recognized by the City of Waupaca to be National Public Safety Telecommunications Week.
The week of celebrating 911 dispatchers and personal originally began in 1981 in California and later became nationally recognized, according to United States Department of Transportation.
The week is always celebrated during the second full week of April.
Barb Nowak, clerk for the city of Waupaca, read the proclamation from Mayor Brian Smith declaring the week of appreciation for telecommunications at the April 8 City Council meeting.
“In honor of the men and women whose diligence and professionalism keep our city and citizens safe,” Nowak said.

Eric Halverson, alderperson district four, said it is amazing what the Waupaca County dispatchers do and further commended the department for the importance of the work they do and the level of professionalism they bring.
Halvorson noted that there were 700,000 radio transmissions that went through the county dispatch center in 2025 and 12,000 calls from the public to 911.
Halvorson also said there are only 14 dispatchers that work at the county, which covers seven days a week, 365 days a year, with an average answer time of less than 3.7 seconds.
With the recent ice storm and blizzard in March, the dispatchers received about 24 to 30 calls to 911 on average during those weather events with 150 calls to 911 alone April 2 during the ice storm, Halvorson said.