PHOENIX — New Year's Eve can be a busy night for 911 dispatchers, and their essential work doesn't have many slow nights. While you may not see their faces on the scene of an emergency, if you're in trouble, it's their voice and quick thinking that can make the difference between life and death. It's a difficult job that can take a toll, eased by everyone's favorite coworker.
Overlooking the Phoenix skyline sit some of the city's most important first responders. 911 operators work all hours of the day, listening to people on their worst days.
"You're helping citizens on their worst day. I think that's the best part about working here," said Allie Edwards, a police administrator over the communications division.
"I'm able to help people in their darkest of times. Try to make their day a little bit better by just knowing that people are on their way over there to help them," Emily Kuehnle, a communications operator said.
But those calls can be hard, and dispatchers are left to sit with the emotion of sometimes traumatic calls even after they end.
Thankfully, there's one fearless employee who only sits when you ask. Ellie, a therapy dog, works the dayshift, trained to comfort dispatchers after particularly hard calls.
"It's fun to hear Ellie run up and down the halls. It just brings a sort of lightness to the call center,” Edwards said.
"Ellie and Spirit are both keyed in to kind of recognize that and go and sit with them just to provide that comforting resource,” Edwards said.
"Having Ellie and Spirit around definitely helps with the bad calls we do have, being able to walk over and just give them a little pat, and just finding that comfort in knowing that there is a dog there, and I mean, dogs make everybody feel better," said one dispatcher.
Making people feel better is one of the best perks of this job, whether you have four legs or two.
"It's very gratifying knowing you're able to help somebody, even if you can't physically help them, you're still helping them, and if that's what you want to do in life and you enjoy helping people, it's definitely a good job to do," Kuehnle said.
Phoenix Police Department is always looking for new dispatch recruits, even offering a $7,500 signing incentive to new recruits. Though only humans are eligible for the cash.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
