APCO International is pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 Public Safety Communications and Technology Leadership Awards. They will also be recognized at APCO 2019 in Baltimore, MD, August 11-14.

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Maureen A. Will
Newtown Emergency Communications Center
Newtown, Connecticut

Maureen A. Will began her career at 18 as a Constable in Woodbury, Connecticut, while also working as a telecommunicator for the Brookfield Police Department. Brookfield soon hired Will full time as its first female patrol officer. In January 2008, Will retired from Brookfield at the rank of captain where she had overseen communications and training. Months later, Will was hired as the director of communications in Newtown.

Will is a strong advocate for her communications staff for training and technology, and she pushes them to hone their skills with online training. She actively promotes innovations in technology and opportunities for them, such as acting as a beta site for the testing of the text-to-911 system prior to its implementation statewide in Connecticut.

Her advocacy for training is well known in the emergency communications community, along with advocacy for emergency communications centers affected by active assailant events. Will has spoken to numerous APCO chapters and at conferences across the country regarding the lessons learned from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, advocating for active assailant policies, procedures and training for communications staff, as well as support in the aftermath of these events.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIST OF THE YEAR
Boris Duran
Santa Ana Police Department
Santa Ana, California

Boris Duran started studying computers when he was 12 years old by going to his dad’s office on Saturdays and spending hours at a time teaching himself DOS from an IBM reference manual.

At the age of 19, Duran joined the Santa Ana Police Department as the youngest dispatcher the department has ever had. He figured he would be there just a few years while he finished his degree — 27 years later he’s still there. While working in dispatch, he earned a Bachelor of Science in business information systems.  He was named dispatcher of the year in 1999 and was promoted to lead dispatcher.

After 15 years, Duran was recruited by his department’s IT division to run a project to replace its outdated CAD system. He was selected as Santa Ana Police Department’s first system support analyst in 2011. In 2014, he was promoted to police systems manager.

He has implemented and developed various systems for his job, which include a jail management system, an internal wiki, online training platform, P.O.P. tracking system and dashboard. The accomplishment Boris is most proud of is having formed and developed an amazing team of IT professionals who are committed to providing excellent, responsive and innovative services to their organization.

LINE SUPERVISOR OF THE YEAR
Jenn Andrews
Kitsap 9-1-1
Bremerton, Washington

Jenn Andrews is a Public Safety Communications Supervisor at Kitsap 9-1-1 in Bremerton, Washington. Andrews began her career at Kitsap 9-1-1/CENCOM in February of 1998 as a Primary Cell Receiver. In November 1999 she was promoted to telecommunicator but resigned from the full-time position a year later to raise her son. Despite working part time, Andrews continued to help the department by filling in and offering her assistance. In 2009 she was  promoted to assistant supervisor followed by interim supervisor. Soon she was asked to fill the role permanently. Her nonstop success in this field is rightly justified by her drive to succeed and passion for her work.

As a public safety communications supervisor, Andrews performs supervisory emergency 9-1-1 communications work for lead telecommunicators, telecommunicators and call receivers. Her responsibilities include planning, organizing, supervising and scheduling personnel; enforcing and implementing all policies and procedures as set forth by the director, assistant director and/or the Kitsap 9-1-1 Governing Board.

Andrews is highly respected in her field and has proven her leadership with every role she has filled during her career. Andrews has set the bar high for herself, and she lives up to that standard. She is a natural leader who genuinely cares for the wellbeing and success of her employees. She also genuinely cares about the work and is passionate about changing lives.

RADIO FREQUENCY TECHNOLOGIST OF THE YEAR
Chris Dusseau
Fort Worth Wireless Communications
Fort Worth, Texas

Chris Dusseau’s electronics and radio career began around the age of 10, when his father bought him his first Citizens Band radio. Dusseau eventually became an extra class amateur radio operator and enjoyed talking to people all over the world. He began his professional career in public safety radio in 1997, when he started as a vehicle installer.

After five years, Dusseau transferred to Carrollton, Texas, where he trained other personnel on building squad cars. He served as a technician and began installing and repairing trunked infrastructure. Years later, Dusseau came to work for Fort Worth where he excelled in the technical field. He quickly became a senior technician. He would eventually design equipment for the emergency communications center and developed a monitoring system for the City’s WAVE system. Dusseau has published two articles in industry publications.

Dusseau is a full time father and husband, and he spends his spare time as an avid woodworker, prop builder and electronics designer. Dusseau’s latest design is for his ailing father. It is a device that texts family members at the press of a button if he needs assistance or if he has fallen.

 TELECOMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR
Marissa Leezer
Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications
Chicago, Illinois

Marissa Leezer is a telecommunicator for the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications. Leezer oversees radio frequency, coordinates responses to incoming 9-1-1 calls as well as the training of new hires.

Leezer began her public safety telecommunications career with the Monmouth Police Department in Warren County, Illinois. In 2001, she began working for the Office of Emergency Management and Communications in Chicago as a public safety telecommunicator. Due to her strong work ethic and time management skills, Leezer often goes above and beyond to complete tasks other than her assigned work.

She is passionate about her work and frequently assists other telecommunicators on the job with an eye toward advancing their professional progress. Leezer’s own professional approach to the job is apparent — whether she is communicating with field units or with citizens by telephone.

 Trainer OF THE YEAR
Bess Joyce
Jefferson County Communications Center Authority
Lakewood, Colorado

Bess Joyce is a Colorado native who grew up in Gilpin County. She graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast production management. While working various jobs in production and advertising, she found her passion for dispatching at the Golden (Colorado) Police Department in 2005. Joyce received the 2013 Leadership Excellence award for her work with the agency’s training program. In 2015 she was named Dispatcher of the Year for the city of Golden. She served as a tactical public safety telecommunicator for the Jefferson County SWAT Team for five years.

When the regionalization of eight area emergency communications centers began, Joyce was involved in committees to help shape what would become Jeffcom 911. She co-chaired the Identity Committee tasked with creating the mission, vision and values for the center, and was heavily involved with the CAD Committee, which was responsible for building the new CAD system.

She was promoted to manager of the Golden Communications Center in 2016 and later became training manager for Jeffcom. She performed both jobs until the launch of Jeffcom 911 in 2018.

Joyce goes beyond training in the classroom and focuses on topics such as wellness. She serves on the advisory board for Responder Strong, which promotes mental health awareness among first responders. She also coordinated Jeffcom’s partnership with the Rocky Mountain Police Chaplains and Warren Tech’s vocational high school dispatch program.

TEAM OF THE YEAR
North Andover Police and Fire Communications
North Andover, Massachusetts

“The Merrimack Valley Gas Disaster” struck the town of North Andover, Andover and the city of Lawrence Sept. 13, 2018. This disaster, roughly located within a 5 square-mile radius of the Merrimack Valley area of northeastern Massachusetts, was caused by an over-pressurization of low-pressure gas lines. The over-pressurization caused more than 130 fires, some resulting in explosions. Out of these 130 fires and explosions, 34 were in North Andover resulting in nearly two dozen injuries.

North Andover Communications typically receives approximately six-to-12 9-1-1 calls and 150 business line calls over a given 24-hour period. On the evening of Sept. 13, 2018, the communications center received 182 9-1-1 calls and 763 business line calls. There are currently nine full-time and three part-time telecommunicators who work at the communications center. Those working the communication center that night  had to maintain the same amount of composure and professionalism no matter their level of experience and despite the unfolding events. The communications center did not have plans in place for an incident of this magnitude, and the normal procedure for contacting the control point for mutual aid wasn’t available.

The North Andover Communications team worked tirelessly throughout this tragedy with focused intensity. These telecommunicators understood their task and maintained  composure and professionalism.

 TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP AWARD FOR A LARGE COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
City of Santa Clara
Santa Clara, California

The city of Santa Clara has just shy of over 1,000 full-time employees, and 239 of those work at the heart of the city’s communication center, the police department. Near the end of 2018, the city’s communications center unveiled a new computer aided dispatch (CAD) system.

The innovative technology improves emergency call answering by adding more intricate and detailed maps for first responders to help track 9-1-1 callers. As a result, it will greatly improve response time and  may help save lives.

 TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP AWARD FOR A SMALL COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
Fayette County 911 Communications Center
Fayetteville, Georgia

Fayette County 911 Communications Center handles 9-1-1 calls for service and all public safety dispatch radio traffic in Fayette County. As well as handling the 9-1-1 communications, this center also handles all non-emergency calls for Fayette County. These non-emergent calls can range from animal control to the board of education.

In 2018, the team created a c-Lite plug-in, which takes live video from 9-1-1 callers, allowing improved location tracking with live video and texting options. The technology is installed on already-existing hardware followed by a text message that is sent to the caller’s phone. The message sends immediate location tracking information as well as live video to telecommunicators and first responders. The technology is extremely useful for callers who are in an unknown area and has already proven more reliable than current GPS coordinates.