Monday marks the beginning of National Public Safety Telecommunicators week. In the spirit of the week 13 NEWS caught up with Melanie Bergers, the Shawnee County dispatch communications director to see what it’s like to be a Shawnee County dispatcher.
"We are the primary answering point for all 911 calls in Shawnee County. We take approximately a quarter million 911 and administrative phone calls a day," Bergers said.
"We dispatch for two large law-enforcement agencies, three municipal police departments and eight fire departments."
Dispatchers go through a lot more than you might think, from answering emergency calls from the public, to being the lifeline for an officer in danger.