Tammy Murcek

Tammy Murcek, 51, is approaching her 30th year of employment in Fairfax County, Va. She started out as an animal caretaker, and has been employed in the Department of Safety Communications since 1991. She currently serves as communications operations manager for training, and as a career development coordinator.

Murcek began her career in public safety as a calltaker and then moved into the role of fire dispatcher. She subsequently became a police dispatcher, followed by a teletype operator. Of the four areas in which she has worked, her favorite was being a police dispatcher. “You truly never knew what was going to happen,” she says.

Murcek says she enjoys her current role. “I learn something new every day. I know when I leave (the office), I made a difference in someone’s life,” she says. “I like being in the academy now and seeing those brand new faces—watching them learn in the academy and come alive on the floor and become independent calltakers. I love that feeling. The new ones fresh out of college are eager to learn. They are like a sponge and absorb everything.”

Throughout her public safety career, the majority of Murcek’s work schedule has been shift work, but she now gets to work day shifts—Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.—though she prefers working midnights because she says it’s “more exciting.”

She recalls the days when she was a dispatcher and experienced rude people on the phone. She notes that some callers talked down to the dispatchers and tried to make them feel inferior. She commonly heard, “We pay your salary.” Though Murcek acknowledges that those calls used to bother her and “push her buttons,” she says she learned how to deal with them as she grew in her career.

Murcek is skilled in multi-tasking, a skill she says is important for anyone in the field. In her current roles, she has to read two cards, talk, type and think—all at the same time. In addition, to be successful in the field, Murcek says telecommunicators need to be able to quickly think on their feet, make sound decisions and have thick skin.

Murcek was chosen to serve as the coordinator of the Peer Support Team, a 25-member team that is working to become Virginia certified as a Critical Incident Stress Management Team.

Among her indelible memories was the radio traffic of the Washington, D.C., sniper attack carried out by John Allen Muhammad on Nov. 10, 2009. “That will be with me until I am no longer. Just the fact that he was in the county I worked in made it hit home for us,” Murcek says.

Other major events she recalls include the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001 and the cold-blooded murders of two Fairfax County police officers in 2005 outside Sully police substation in Fairfax County.

Murcek’s public safety connections carry over into her personal life. She met her husband, a retired Fairfax County police officer, on the job, and now her step daughter works as a dispatcher. Consequently, her husband and step daughter understand the nature of her work and she is able to vent to them. “I have a really good network here at home,” Murcek says. When she is not working, Murcek likes to read and described herself as a “TV-aholic.”

Murcek is a dedicated APCO member and has received multiple awards from her employer, including three Supervisor of the Year awards and one Employee of the Year award.

She has served as an instructor for the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) in Virginia and has taught new recruits about 9-1-1 calls and dispatching as part of the professional curriculum offered by the department.

When Murcek first began as a telecommunicator, there were not many people who made it a career. Thankfully, that has since changed. “It was a stepping stone to move elsewhere. It is not just a job anymore. It is a career. We are not silent partners. We are truly the first of the first responders,” she says.

In looking back over her career, Murcek reflects on the fact that she possesses the skills and abilities to help anyone who called into the center. She admits if she had to do it all over again, she absolutely would. Her only regret is that she wished she had stayed on as a dispatcher and trainer for a longer period of time. She felt as if she lost some family and also missed dispatching as well as the calls.

“The excitement and pace of the job, and the caring, passionate people that I worked with is what I will remember the most. I spent more time with them than my own family,” Murcek says. Murcek is scheduled to retire April 6, 2016.

KAREN L. BUNE is an adjunct professor at George Mason University and Marymount University in Virginia. She is also a consultant for the Training and Technical Assistance Center for the DOJ’s Office for Victims of Crime and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.