Crime & Safety
Watch: Dukes County Dispatchers Take the Cake
The people whose steady voices you hear when you call 911 on Martha's Vineyard are now working out of a brand-new communications center at the airport. A ribbon-cutting Sunday celebrated dispatchers with a family cook-out and a cake like no other.
"Dispatchers: The Unsung Heroes," read the tribute in icing atop a sheet cake that also bore a frosting version of the Dukes County Sheriff's Department badge.
The cake was just one part of Sunday's ribbon-cutting ceremony at the county's new communications center at the airport, where county officials, Boy Scouts and families mingled with first responders and dispatchers celebrating their expanded new workplace.
Formerly crammed into a small office, the dispatchers now have roomier digs with high-tech desktops surmounted by large monitors for heads-up displays of critical information.
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Sheriff Michael McCormack gave a keynote address before inviting county Major Susan Schofield, who supervises the dispatchers, to cut the ribbon across the new command center entrance.
Afterward, Sgt. Sarah Townes presented Schofield with a gift basket from the dispatchers, saying "We thought it was about time we acknowledged her."
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Townes also documented the party with a gallery of photos she was kind enough to share with us on Patch. If you, too, have images from the event and would like to share, just click the upload button with the camera icon.
For more public safety news on and off the Vineyard, please see our Police & Fire section, available in the News tab above or by clicking here.
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