Telecommunications Week being observed
(Guadalupe County) — Those individuals who play a critical role in keeping citizens safe and sound are being recognized this week.
This week, Guadalupe County celebrates Telecommunicators Week April 13-19, 2025.
Telecommunicators who work 24/7 at the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office were honored during Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting.
Guadalupe County Sheriff Joshua Ray says although it’s a deputy or a firefighter that folks often see first during an emergency, it’s the 9-1-1 dispatch room where that call for help actually begins.
“It’s a highly stressful job. It’s not exactly the same thing that deputies are doing but it is a critical aspect of what we do,” said Ray.
In 2024 alone, dispatchers at the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office recorded 53,357 entries into the call system, 18,723 of which were 9-1-1 calls, and responded to all the public safety agencies they serve.
Ray says these numbers illustrate the importance of this profession where lifesaving assistance can often be a life and death situation.
“In that 9-1-1 center, we provide 24/7, 365 days a year – somebody is on the other end of that line either when law enforcement is calling in asking for help or asking questions or when the public is calling in and just to be honest, when most of the time, you are calling 9-1-1, it’s not because you are having a good day. For a lot of people, it could be the absolute worst day of their life,” said Ray.
Ray says along with the right training, he believes it takes the right people to do the job and do it well.
“It’s important that we have the right people to answer those telephones and to take those calls of service and it’s pretty exceptional work that they do up there because they have to be the calm voice in the storm and it’s stressful even just being on the other end of that line or other end of that radio during a crisis or critical situation. It takes a toll on them as well, so I think it’s important that we recognize the commitment they make in serving our community,” said Ray.
To publicly recognize the local dispatch employees, the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court proclaimed this week as Telecommunicators Week. Many of the employees were thanked and honored during the meeting held at the Guadalupe County Courthouse.
The city of Seguin is also celebrating National Public Safety Telecommunicators week. The city used its social media pages this week to honor the men and women, who work in the disptach room at the Seguin Police Department. The city says it proudly recognizes these unseen heroes. They thanked them for being “the calm voices in the chaos, the first to answer the call, and the vital link between our community and first responders.”