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DENTON – April 12 through April 18, 2026, is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. In celebration, Caroline County’s 911 Center opened its doors to Caroline Review.News to showcase the behind-the-scenes efforts of the often forgotten “first first-responders.”
Dispatchers in Caroline County work 24-hour shifts, sleeping in bunks from either 6 p.m. to midnight or midnight to 6 a.m.. For every 24 hours worked, they earn 72 hours “off.” While this may not seem like the dream schedule for other careers, the dispatchers say it is because of this schedule that Caroline County’s 911 Center is one of the only currently fully staffed local dispatch centers – a staff they’ve retained for over two years.
No paramedic, fire truck, or police car moves until the 911 operators field a call and communicate with the correct resources. But that’s not their only job. As the first ones exposed to the emergency, albeit over the phone, 911 specialists are trained to give first-aid tips like CPR instructions to civilians. They must ask detailed questions about the scene, keeping officer safety at the forefront. And perhaps most importantly, they have to field the caller’s emotional reaction to what they are witnessing, and help them get through it as best they can. When certain calls become too heavy for some 911 specialists to bear, Shift Lieutenants have to make quick staffing decisions, sometimes sending those personally impacted home and calling in other operators.
Folks at the 911 Center admit their work usually goes unrecognized, but they don’t do it for the recognition anyway. Shift Lieutenant Steve McCombs said, “you call us, and we take care of everything.”
