Above / Emergency Communications Supervisor Stacey Edwards, far left, Fire Chief Mark Puknaitis, Telecommunicator Margaret “Maggie” Kochurka, and Police Chief Robert Marshall are pictured during observance of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, April 8-14.
NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Fifty years ago, the first 9-1-1 call was placed in Haleyville, Alabama. Less than a decade later, Naperville began accepting 9-1-1 calls, and the industry continues to evolve with emerging technologies. Naperville’s telecommunicators are observing National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week from April 8 through April 14. Congress initiated this week in 1991 to nationally recognize dispatchers for their efforts.
Margaret “Maggie” Kochurka is named Telecommunicator of the Year
Naperville annually recognizes a Telecommunicator of the Year and recently presented the award to the 2018 recipient, Margaret “Maggie” Kochurka. Kochurka has served this community in the Naperville Public Safety Answering Point for 20 years.
Kochurka is a Lead Telecommunicator, a Certified Training Officer, and last year, she provided valuable support to the organization as the Administrative Telecommunicator. She was commended for performance excellence and support to other departmental units throughout 2017.
“We are pleased to recognize our Telecommunicator of the Year, Maggie Kochurka, along with our entire team of telecommunicators. Although we are fortunate to work and live in a very safe community, when Police, Fire or Emergency Medical assistance is needed, the ‘first’ First Responder is almost always the 9-1-1 call taker. It is critical to properly assess and accurately dispatch our police and fire units. We are proud to have a very skilled telecommunications staff in Naperville along with advanced technologies, in order to provide the highest level of service to this community,” Communications Manager Kalah Considine said.
“This profession requires intense training and specific talent in order to excel at multi-tasking in a wide variety of stressful and ever-changing situations. Honoring the work of these individuals is important, and we are happy to be able to do so,” Considine added.
Naperville’s Nationally Accredited 9-1-1 dispatch
With 26 telecommunicators and four supervisors, Naperville’s Nationally Accredited 9-1-1 dispatch center is staffed to handle emergency and non-emergency phone calls and police/fire incidents. The Naperville Public Safety Answering Point Telecommunicators answer a daily average of 140 e9-1-1 calls and 500 non-emergency calls. Additionally, they handle the dispatching of approximately 88,000 police events and 14,000 fire/emergency medical incidents annually.
Story and photo submitted by Commander Louis Cammiso, Public Information Officer, for the Naperville Police Department.
