Police Honor 911 Dispatchers During National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week

The Pasadena Police Department is recognizing its Communications Section staff during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, observed April 12–18, 2026, honoring the dispatchers and supervisors who serve as the critical link between the public and emergency responders.

Police Chief Eugene Harris and Commander Karen Peterson, who leads the Communications Center, acknowledged the team’s work in the City Manager’s April 16 weekly newsletter. The department named ten members of the section by name: Dispatch Supervisors Lakisha Higgins, Monica Ridley, and Rachel Johnson; Dispatchers Alesandra Perez, Veronica Dunham, Diana Parra, and Alicia Trosclair; Dispatch Administrator Rosanne Crees; and CTW Dispatchers Robin Evans and Cinthya Arcand.

The Pasadena Communications Section serves as the city’s Public Safety Answering Point, or PSAP — the official designation for a 911 call center. Dispatchers answer 911 and non-emergency calls, gather critical information, and dispatch police units to calls for service. They also monitor and operate radio systems across multiple law enforcement frequencies, manage emergency communication systems, and use computer-assisted dispatch technology to support field personnel.

In addition to call-taking and dispatch, telecommunicators conduct system inquiries through the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS) and the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS), monitor robbery alarms for city departments, and oversee other critical communication tools.

National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week was established in 1981 by Patricia Anderson of the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office in California and was officially declared a national observance in 1991. It is observed annually during the second full week of April. An estimated 240 million calls are made to 911 in the United States each year, according to the National Emergency Number Association.

“These highly skilled team members are the calm voice in critical moments and the vital link between the community and emergency responders,” Chief Harris said in the newsletter. “Every day, they demonstrate the department’s values of pride, professionalism, and integrity in all aspects of their work.”