Instead of singling out one person for a telecommunicator of the year award, the Ottawa City Council honored all of them tonight. Commissioner James Less says they work a lot of overtime lately but keep on performing well. They’ve been affected by the staffing shortages that have hit nearly every other line of work.
Telecommunicators are often called dispatchers. Some of them don’t like the term, because dispatching police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances is only part of their job.