MANSFIELD — The Mansfield Police Department’s Public Safety Communications Center is often overlooked.
Not anymore.
The city’s lifeline group of 12, along with their manager — Jerry Botdorf — is receiving a Double Gold Star Award from the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials for their combined efforts in the Randall Road stand-off.
The Communications Center received a call on April 27, 2015 that would later involve multiple law enforcement agencies in a violent standoff and end 26 hours later with one man losing his life. The initial call was taken by Dispatcher Lisa Abrams when a Columbia Gas worker said he was confronted by a man with an assault rifle when he showed up at the residence to do maintenance work.
“The dispatchers remained calm and took control of the incident by dispatching officers and coordinating the numerous agencies, and personnel, that would eventually respond, and by coordinating current and accurate information to all agencies involved,” read a press release issued by MPD.
The award will be presented to PSCC staff members during the Ohio Gold Star Awards Luncheon on April 12 at the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky.
APCO is an international organization devoted to supporting and honoring public safety forces. Nominations for awards are turned in by departmental staff members. MPD Assistant Chief Keith Porch nominated the PSCC for their efforts.
“They’re overlooked. None of the articles you see in the news about big things that happen in the community ever mention dispatchers,” Porch said. “They’re the calming voice on the other end that lead to lives being saved.”
As the assistant to the chief, Porch overlooks the department’s PSCC.
“I’m extremely proud to have them work for us. Especially since they are understaffed,” he noted.
According to Botdorf, the center’s only manager, the communications center currently employs 12 dispatchers with at least three working per shift. Before the city’s budget took major cuts in 2008-09, the center employed 17 dispatchers and three supervisors.
Porch said an additional dispatcher could be hired on after the city’s final budget is approved later in March. But even then, the new hire would undergo nearly one year of training.
“It’s a highly stressful job — it takes all of that year to get them up to our standard,” Botdorf said.
As a former patrol officer and deputy, Porch said well-trained dispatchers are imperative — he called them the lifeline of a department and a city.
“They’re the lifeline. You count on them for everything. They’re able to put you at ease as an officer responding to that call,” Porch said of the dispatch team.
Botdorf said the MPD’s 24/7 “radio room” easily has well over 200 years of combined experience. And the experience is needed — he said the center received slightly over 135,000 calls in 2015. On any given day? Around 300 per 8-hr shift.
“I’m very proud of my team. They do a very difficult job under very stressful circumstances and they come to work everyday to serve,” Botdorf said.
