Sterling police honor emergency dispatchers as backbone of public safety

Sterling police honored the Sterling Emergency Communications Center this week as the backbone of public safety, recognizing the dispatchers who answer Logan County’s most urgent calls and send help to the right place without delay.

National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week ran April 12-18 in 2026, a national observance set aside each year during the second week of April to thank the telecommunications personnel who answer 911 calls, dispatch responders and stay with callers until help arrives. The week began as a recognition established in 1981 and was later reinforced by a 1991 presidential proclamation.

In Logan County, the Sterling Emergency Communications Center serves as the public safety answering point and provides dispatching services for local emergency response agencies, including law enforcement, fire and EMS. The center says its mission is to provide the fastest and most efficient response to emergency calls possible while keeping police, fire and EMS personnel safe.

That work starts with the first question on the line. When residents dial 9-1-1, the center tells callers to be ready with the address, phone number, type of emergency and name. For non-emergency calls, the dispatch line is 970-522-3512, option 1.

The center’s role extends beyond call-taking. Logan County also relies on CodeRED, sirens, radio and cable override alerts as part of its emergency warning system, placing dispatchers at the center of both day-to-day response and countywide public warnings. That makes the Sterling Emergency Communications Center a key link between callers, first responders and the systems that alert the public when minutes matter.

Dispatchers work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, often as the first point of contact in a crisis and one of the least visible parts of the emergency-response chain. Public-safety agencies often describe them as the first first responders, a title that fits the job in Sterling, where the emergency communication center anchors response for the city and the wider county.