Gulfport police honor telecommunicators as first responders

The Gulfport Police Department on Facebook praised its emergency telecommunicators as the unseen lifeline during emergencies, calling them the “first, first responders.” The department said they often are the calm voice callers hear before any unit arrives and that they can turn panic into direction, chaos into coordination and fear into action.

In the post, the department described telecommunicators as listening, typing, directing and thinking all at once while talking to callers, officers, fire and medical personnel — sometimes simultaneously — and piecing together locations from limited descriptions.

The post was shared as part of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week and used hashtags including #GulfportProud, #FirstFirstResponder, #RespectTheHeadset and #NationalPublicSafetyTelecommunicatorsWeek. Public safety telecommunicators coordinate emergency responses and are frequently unseen by the public despite their central role in dispatching resources.

The department said residents may never know their names but will remember their voices on the worst day of their lives. We will provide more information as it becomes available.