Sheriff's Department Marks Telecommunicator Week; ISP Also Salutes its TCs

In honor of Telecommunicator Week, the Effingham County Sheriff's Office recognized its telecommunications staff for "hard work and dedication to the Department and to our community."

April 14-20 is National Telecommunicator Week and the month of April is National 911 Education Month.

(PICTURED BACK ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: CHIEF DEPUTY PAUL KUHNS, BRIAN MEYERS, GENA BLAIR, VICTORIA SHUPE, BOWE CRAVENS AND SHERIFF DAVID MAHON; FRONT ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: JANE LUSTIG, TELECOMMUNICATIONS SUPERVISOR TINA DANIELS, ALYSSA KILMAN, TRENTON GONZALEZ, SHERYL VONDERHEIDE, ASSISTANT TELECOMMUNICATIONS SUPERVISOR KAY HARTKE AND HAILEIGH VERDEYEN; NOT PICTURED: BILLIE BALES, PHARABE NORMAN, CHAD METTE AND SAM LARCH)

The Illinois State Police also is recognizing Telecommunicator Operators and other behind-the-scenes heroes who dispatch Troopers and officers from other state agencies in emergency situations.

The ISP employs more than 120 Telecommunicators at its six call centers across the state. They provided communications assistance for more than 520,900 calls for service in 2018.