Extending the Recognition

In addition to offering an opportunity for celebration and recognition within your agencies, NPSTW is the perfect time to reach out to other PSAPs, the media and government agencies asking them to help honor telecommunicators and their impact on public safety.

How might you do that?

• Use the agency Facebook page and Twitter to get the word out about telecommunicators. Highlight information about positive results of calls or the impact of the work.
• Involve other precincts/fire and police agencies in your celebration. In some areas, the different first responder agencies are happy to provide snacks, meals or small gifts to honor comm center employees.
• Post flyers challenging other agencies to have a celebration. Offer to trade coverage during the time of your events so that all their telecommunicators can attend.
• Have an open house and invite the public to come in to see their 911 center and staff.
• Contact the media to get stories out. Use APCO’s sample press release about NPSTW to highlight your agency’s work or craft one of our own to educate the community about public safety and your comm center.
• Adopt another center in your area, and collect items to celebrate and recognize their staff. Include a letter introducing yourselves and asking them to pay-it-forward next year to another agency.
• Take a group photo and make cards to send out to other PSAPs in the area and to agencies you dispatch for.
• Lead and publicize efforts to donate to the local community through a food bank or helping other dispatchers in need.
• Using APCO’s sample NPSTW proclamation and letter template, write to your public officials asking for them to recognize NPSTW and the efforts of telecommunicators in your district.
• If you give awards, such as Telecommunicator of the Year, contact a local radio station and ask them to interview the winners for broadcast.

Do you have more ideas for extending the recognition?  Share them under “Leave a Reply” below.