Kyra Pulliam had worked for Arlington County, Va., in the 1990s for 11 years as a dispatcher, and had also worked on service dispatch protocols. She achieved the level of Assistant Supervisor. In 2006, she left the county to work for a federal contractor, at which time she gained a great deal of experience in project management as well as personnel management.

However, following her stint with the contractor, her heartstrings were pulling her to return to emergency dispatching and, thus, she returned to Arlington County where she had to start over as a rookie. Moving from a management role in consulting to begin again as a rookie was definitely a transition for Pulliam. “It’s a bit of a challenge,” she says. However, from the diverse experiences and exposure, she admits that she now looks at things differently. Currently, she serves as an Emergency Communications Technician II for the Office of Emergency Management in Arlington County.

Pulliam says she likes knowing when she goes to bed each night that she was helpful to someone that day, and stresses that she is not in it for the glory. “One of the best things ever is that I did something good,” she says. Particularly rewarding is the call where someone doesn’t know what he or she is supposed to do and then during the course of the call, with Pulliam’s assistance, the individual knows what to do and how to proceed.

One call that remains unforgettable to Pulliam is the time a man called 9-1-1 indicating he had heard gunshots in the house and stated his roommate attempted suicide, but was still alive. Pulliam attempted to go through the EMS pre-arrival instructions with the caller, but he could not do CPR on the victim. The caller asked Pulliam if it would be OK for him to hold the victim’s hand, to which Pulliam responded in the affirmative. The caller tried to do whatever he could to help his friend. “You never know who is in what place in their life,” Pulliam says.

As for most dispatchers, Pulliam says domestic calls can be stressful. She says she dislikes when they escalate. She tries to keep the party on the phone and keep the situation from progressing before help can arrive, but she admits that it is a challenge.

Undoubtedly, Pulliam has to multitask well, and she admits that this is a critical component of her role. For her, a negative aspect of the job is the fact that it is difficult to constantly maintain a strong and positive morale—particularly when handling one critical call after the next with little or no down time to recover from the previous call.

One of the positive impacts she has seen in her job is the fact that, in the past, both firefighters and law enforcement officers received training in dispatching, which strengthened the relationship between those on the road and those staffing the communications center. She actually witnessed officers training one another regarding basic manners toward telecommunicators, and cops were in a mentoring position. As a result, responders on the road better understand and appreciate the role of telecommunicators, and they work hand-in-hand with one another in their mutual goals of public safety.

Pulliam’s desire is to make sure everyone is safe and goes home following their shift. Along with most Americans, Pulliam will always remember the horrific events of 9/11 but, for her, the memory is particularly embedded because she was working that day and was on the main police channel. She recalls a motor officer stating he observed a plane flying very low on Columbia Pike in Arlington, Va., and headed in the direction of the nation’s capital. Another report came in from another unit as well. “We had sent a message out by computer to all road units about what was going on in New York. Cops needed to know,” Pulliam says.

Other surrounding jurisdictions were on alert as well and had access to the information. “It was a lot to manage and comprehend. I’m just one person. I didn’t do any more or any less than any other dispatcher would have done,” Pulliam said.

As a result of the events of 9/11, Pulliam became interested in critical incident stress management. “It was a big trigger for me to get involved in that,” Pulliam says. She undertook the necessary training and interacted with personnel from the police, fire and sheriff’s departments. “It was fantastic seeing that many people engaged. We take care of one another,” Pulliam says.

One of the highlights of her career was the opportunity she had to be the keynote speaker for the 2012 London Fire Brigade conference at Scotland Yard. There were approximately 1,500 people in the room when she spoke. “It was an amazing experience,” Pulliam says.

Pulliam was born in Morgantown, W. Va. Married for more than two decades, she met her husband when they both worked for a private ambulance company and were partners on the job. Her husband now works for FEMA, and he also serves as a volunteer firefighter and EMT.

Pulliam shares friendships with people both on and off the job, but the most of them have some form of public safety involvement. When she is not working, she enjoys playing with her two German Shepherds. She also likes to read a lot, particularly murder mysteries and romantic novels, and she is a big fan of Tom Clancy’s books.

In looking ahead, Pulliam’s goal is to continue moving forward and be the best dispatcher, trainer and supervisor that she can be, in addition to making the best decisions she can. Reflecting back on her career, she says, “It’s been a wonderful ride.”

Karen L. Bune serves as an adjunct professor at George Mason University and Marymount University in Virginia, and she is a consultant for the Training and Technical Assistance Center for the Office for Victims of Crime and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice. She is a nationally recognized speaker and trainer on public safety issues. Bune is board certified in traumatic stress and domestic violence, and she is a fellow of the Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and the National Center for Crisis Management. She serves on the Institutional Review Board of The Police Foundation in Washington, D.C.