The City of Dublin

(DUBLIN, Ohio) – Three Dublin communications technicians will be honored at the annual Ohio Chapters of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, International (APCO) Gold Star Awards Ceremony noon Wednesday, April 13 at the DoubleTree in Worthington.

Communications Technicians Christopher Burkhardt and Stephanie Skipworth and Communications Supervisor Carolyn Fergus were nominated for a team award for their handling of the shooting incident at NCO Financial on Dec. 14, 2010.

“In the after incident debriefing, officers made a specific point of praising the dispatch team for their quick relay of information and made clear that they had changed their response approach based on the information provided,” said Jay Somerville, technical services bureau director. “Had the information flow been delayed by as much as ten seconds, the suspect would have been passed the responders and out of the jurisdiction.”

The team of three received 16 calls reporting the incident. They coordinated the police response and suspect apprehension, Fire/EMS response including the landing of MedFlight to transport the victim, and scene communication as part of the Incident Dispatch Team.

National Public Safety Telecommunications Week is April 10-16. This week has been created to make the public more aware of the hard work and dedication of communications technicians, which provide a vital link to public safety services.

For more information

Contact: Megan Canavan at 614.410.4504 | 614.327.6827 | mcanavan@dublin.oh.us | Twitter: @dublinohio