Do you remember any time you have called 911? Who was the 1st person you spoke with? Who was verbal presence and be the calm voice that helped you? Who was the person that started help? A Dispatcher!! It is long overdue for dispatchers to be treated with the same rights and privileges as first responders just as the responders with whom they share the highest public safety responsibilities. I will leave with a quote from Dr. Seuss “To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.

I have been dispatching for 12 years. This Bill would allow me to have the same disability benefits that my newer hired dispatchers receive from the Hybrid Retirement Plan disability program benefit. I have seen where someone in plan 1 who was out on FMLA for having a baby and she did not have enough accrued time for the full 12 weeks of FMLA., she did not receive paycheck towards the end of her FMLA. However, a different person (who the other person on FMLA Trained) in hybrid plan took FLMA got paid with the Hybrid Retirement Plan disability benefit for the full 12 weeks and did have to use all their accrued time. The Hybrid Retirement Plan disability program doesn't not fully pay it pays 66 percent that would help save accrued time usage. This would make all Dispatchers equal for Retirement Plan disability benefit from VRS. Thank you

I am in my 13 year of dispatching for Caroline County Sheriff's Office. I have been a supervisor for 2 years. I was 45 years old when I started my career as a 911 Dispatcher. This career has been very rewarding in so many ways and it has been very emotional, upsetting, anxious, frustrating, heartbreaking. I attended a supervisor course 2 years and and found out that I do have triggers from doing this job. If I am near someone that is playing out loud a video of people arguing, fighting, screaming I immediately become anxious and angry. If I know the person they have to turn it off or I have to get away from the sound. Most of us have some sort of PTSD, sounds, visuals, the news, storms, snow everyone has a trigger. Let's talk about being a "First Responder", WE are the first on scene. Dispatchers are the first to take the call from someone that is sick, someone found their spouse unconscious and not breathing, Dispatchers are the first to give CPR instructions. We are the voice on the phone to separate a civil or domestic situation. WE (I) am the one that can still hear a 19 yo daughter crying to her mom "please don't leave me" as her mom is having a stroke. This is only a few examples. There are so many that all of us have that we try to compartmentalize. I am in favor of all 3 bills! Please recognize 911 Dispatchers as "First Responders!

This is long over due. please pass this bill

Please refer this bill to the full committee for consideration. This bill would give the locality option to receive enhanced retirement benefits to 911 dispatchers. Under current law, localities may provide enhanced benefits to firefighters and emergency medical technicians but not 911 dispatchers. Without 911 dispatchers no 1st responded would ever be dispatched to an incident.

Without 911 dispatchers, no first responder would ever be dispatched on an incident. Dispatchers experience many of the same psychological trauma and stressors as law enforcement, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel. Dispatchers are the first link in the chain between someone experiencing or observing something terrible and getting the proper assistance to them efficiently. They make decisions in spilt seconds that have a lasting impact on the outcome of an emergency. These 911 personnel are exposed to same stressors that personnel on scene experience. It is demanding work with extended hours, few breaks, and around-the-clock, get-it-right-the-first-time service expectations from the same citizens who expect law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians to do the same. Please pass this so that all first responders in the Commonwealth have the same benefits.

I support these 3 because I have been a 911 Dispatcher for over 30 years. I have answered calls of many types including my brothers suicide call back in 2006. We hear people scream, take their last breath, shoot themselves, we hear callers beg for their loved one that they found unconscious and not breathing not to leave the that they were supposed to go first as we are giving them CPR instructions and they are attempting to do what we are telling them to do until help can arrive. We have to calm down callers during domestics usually by telling the caller to go to another location in away from the other party before help arrives, and many more. We may not physically be on the scene but we are mentally on the scene. We are the first contact in an emergency.

I am a dispatcher for the Caroline County sheriff’s office, during my shift there could be only 3 of us working at a time. I have taken calls where I’ve had to give CPR instructions while both Medics and Deputies get on scene. Im In favor of this bill for many reasons. We are the calm voice in the storm, we are the first person that they call in need. I support all three bills!

Currently, Dispatchers are excluded from the enhanced retirement benefits, despite their critical role in saving lives during emergencies. These unsung heroes are vital to the safety and security of their communities they serve. Per JLARC study of Oct 2023(table 5), there are public safety occupations that have the same level of physical demand as a Dispatcher but less public safety responsibility that currently receive enhanced benefits. The stress, combined with the 24-7 nature of the job, has made it hard to attract and retain workers. This will help recruit and retain dispatchers. Dispatchers are just like other public safety first responders. They work in bad weather, holidays and weekends. While the Clerks of court and Clerks of the county are off. Please help to stop this disparity against Dispatchers. I would like to give my support to this bill. Please pass this bill and allow local governments, have the option to provide enhanced retirement benefits for full-time salaried dispatchers.