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Police dispatchers honored at luncheon

MEDIA RELEASE

Dispatchers from the Hawai’i Police Department were recognized on Monday (April 11) in honor of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

At an employee luncheon funded by private donations, Chief Harry S. Kubojiri thanked the dispatchers for their hard work. “It is a thankless job and it takes a special type of person,” Kubojiri said.

He noted that police dispatchers rarely receive closure after taking a harrowing call. “As soon as you’re done with one, the next one starts,” he said. “I do appreciate everything that you do.”

The chief honored four employees who had been named “Dispatcher of the Quarter” in 2010. They were:

  • Nashly Leslie-Derego, Dispatcher of the 1st Quarter, for sending her father-in-law with jumper cables to the aid of two college students whose car wouldn’t start.
  • Michelle Shiroma, Dispatcher of the 2nd Quarter, for taking up a collection to buy a new bicycle for 10-year-old Xheily Matsumoto, whose bike had been stolen.
  • Jennifer Balderas, Dispatcher of the 3rd Quarter, for relaying life-saving measures from the Fire Dispatcher to officers assisting a burglary suspect who experienced seizures and stopped breathing.
  • Ramona Torres, for staying on the line for 10 minutes to provide comfort to a woman fearful of an all-terrain vehicle that was chasing her, her husband and their grandchildren.

The Hawaii Police Department’s Communications Dispatch Center screens all of the island’s 911 calls, which average about 10,000 per month. Of those, 83 percent are intended for police, while the remaining 17 percent are transferred to the Fire Department.

Since 1991, the second full week of April each year has been dedicated to the men and women who serve as public safety telecommunicators.

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