CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WKBW) — We are introducing you to and highlighting the unsung heroes who play a critical role when navigating emergencies.
They are usually the first ones people interact with when in need of emergency services: dispatchers.
Tuesday night, Cheektowaga town board members passed a resolution to change dispatcher residency rules.
WATCH: Cheektowaga passes resolution to change residency requirement for dispatchers
Anyone hired now in Cheektowaga has one year to move into the town, if they do not live here already.
Once dispatchers have five years of residency and five years of employment with the town, they will have the option to move anywhere in Erie County.
That same resolution passed for police officers earlier this spring.
7 News' Pheben Kassahun gave a voice to this lifeline that serves the nearly 90,000 residents of Cheektowaga.
For 10 years, Town of Cheektowaga Senior Public Safety Dispatcher Ashley Robbins has been the first line of defense for callers in need.
"We talk to people on their worst days," Robbins said.
Her desire to help people is what gravitated her to the role.
"We are the calm voice they hear on the other end until help gets there in person," said Robbins. "We want to treat people like it's our family calling. We want to remain calm, we want to be kind, even if we think the problem might be not so big. To them, it is and we have to make sure we keep that in mind."
The biggest challenge of the job is how busy it can be.
"It can go from nothing happening at all to the room blowing up, the phones are ringing off the hook, the police are calling on the radio, there's a fire in town and everyone just comes together and works together really well," said Robbins.
Robbins recalled what it was like working during the Blizzard of '22.
"We were here for days at a time. No one came, no one left. We just all sat in that room and worked together," said Robbins. "The phones did not stop ringing. We had a command post that was working at the other building so we were going back and forth with them. We were just trying to make sure everybody lived."
The fast-paced environment will get some extra hands after the town board member passed the resolution Tuesday night.
Twenty-year Cheektowaga dispatcher and Dispatcher Association president Gina Silsby told Kassahun on Tuesday, that it will help with the staffing shortages.
"This is going to give us quality candidates in the town and that's just what the town needs," Gina Silsby explained.
"I think it's going to be great for hiring," said Robbins. "It's going to open up our candidate pool. I think we'll be able to get a lot more good people to work with us."
Usually, shifts are eight hours but can go upwards of 16 hours at most.
The shifts are like a tag team: no one leaves until their replacement arrives to ensure that an emergency call is not missed.
There are four positions in Cheektowaga dispatch:
- Front desk (handles walk-ins and police reports)
- Phones positions (answers phones)
- Police radio (dispatches to the police cars)
- Fire radio (dispatches to fire departments)
"You have to be good at multitasking," said Robbins. "We have to be able to listen to each other talking, while you're listening to the caller talking, while you're listening to the police units calling out, fire units calling out. You have to hear everything at once. It's a stressful but rewarding job. We love what we do. Everyone works together awesome here."
What happens once you are hired?
According to Captain Schmidt, there are two weeks of classroom training, followed by four days of observation training.
Then trainees will start on the midnight shift because it is the slowest shift.
They will then alternate between days and afternoons which are the busier shifts.
The entire training program lasts six months.
