Radio operators or dispatchers are many people’s first contact with law enforcement and these professionals provide valuable information to the public and also to officers. Sergeant Eric Brown with the Highway Patrol notes that this is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week

Brown says throughout the country, these are true professionals.

In 1937, the Missouri Legislature approved plans to create the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s various troop locations and radio stations around the state. It also approved the hiring of sufficient radio personnel to staff these stations. Fifteen radio personnel were ready to provide communications by the time the buildings were built. Today, the Patrol’s 147 communications operators and telecommunicators ensure the business lines, emergency phone numbers, and radio systems are covered 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the nine troop locations.