38 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • SEPTEMBER 2021
NY RECOGNIZES 911 OPERATORS
The definition of first responders may soon include 911 operators. (Getty Images)
New York State lawmakers passed
a bill that would designate as first
responders the emergency operators
and dispatchers within police, fire,
and emergency services departments.
The designation would make the
dispatchers and operators eligible
for the same protections, benefits,
and training opportunities afforded
to other first responders but would
have no fiscal impact on taxpayers,
such as enabling the dispatchers and
operators to receive key benefits to
mitigate the stress and trauma often
incurred through the rigorous demands
of their jobs, proponents say.
“Emergency operators and dispatchers
are undoubtedly the first
responders of first responders,
serving at the center of emergency
events,24 hours a day, 7 days a week,”
said Suffolk Association of Municipal
Employees President Daniel C. Levler,
who represents more than 200
emergency dispatchers and operators
within local police, fire, sheriff, and
emergency services departments.
“These essential emergency workers
exercise quick-thinking decisions,
counseling, and guidance that frequently
makes the critical difference
between life and death before help
arrives.”
Several other states are considering
similar legislation while a bill that
would make the same change nationwide
is pending in Congress. Gov.
Andrew Cuomo did not sign the bill
into law before resigning amid an
impeachment inquiry and Gov. Kathy
Hochul has not indicated if she will
put pen to paper yet.
“This is a recognition bill,” State Assemblyman
Joseph DeStefano (R-Medford),
a former emergency dispatcher
in the Suffolk County Sheriff ’s
Department who proposed the bill,
has said. “There’s no reason why they
can’t be considered first responders
and get recognized as first responders
because they’re doing exactly the
same work that first responders do,
only in a different way.”
For example, Stephanie Burkowinski,
a member of Suffolk County’s Fire
Rescue and Emergency Services,
recently helped a woman deliver her
baby during a 911 call.
“Our emergency dispatchers and operators
save lives,” said Levler, whose
union has more than 6,000 members.
“They often talk 911 callers through
performing life-saving procedures
like CPR before emergency services
can even arrive on the scene. They
have even helped bring life into the
world by talking residents and first
responders through emergency
childbirth.”
State Sen. John E. Brooks (D-Massapequa),
who sponsored the bill in
the Senate, agreed.
“New York's emergency operators
and dispatchers provide invaluable
services to us all,” said Brooks. “It
is long past time we remove existing
roadblocks that prevent these essential
emergency workers from providing
the full range of support they
can give and denying them of benefits
they deserve. Without question, all
public safety dispatchers, emergency
responders, emergency operators,
emergency complaint operators, and
emergency services dispatchers are
first responders, and it is crucial to the
safety and welfare of New York State
that they are recognized as such.”
-TB
FIRST RESPONDERS
“These vital government employees truly are the first
of the first responders,” said Daniel C. Levler.
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
