 - The City of Riverton recognized the Riverton Police Department dispatch team on Tuesday ahead of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week April 12-18.){kind=link}
(Riverton, WY) – The City of Riverton recognized the Riverton Police Department dispatch team on Tuesday ahead of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week April 12-18.
The week offers local officials a chance to “show appreciation for those who are calm during the chaos,” RPD Chief Eric Hurtado told the Riverton City Council during a regular meeting Tuesday, describing dispatchers as “the ones that support and protect those on the front lines by gathering information from the public.”
“They make sure the men and women on the other side of the radio are safe and (have) everything they need to handle the call,” Hurtado said. “The Riverton police dispatchers are a strong, quick-thinking, resilient team, and I’m proud to have them and proud of the jobs that they do for our community.”
RPD Lead Dispatcher Sarah Nelson agreed with Hurtado that the agency has “a great team” that is “there when (we) need them.”
“I don’t have words to explain what they do on a day-to-day basis,” Nelson said. “They keep showing back up for this community, for their team, and for the police officers as a whole.”
In honor of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, each member of the RPD dispatch team received a certificate of appreciation from the city and a goodie bag provided by the Fremont County Law Enforcement Foundation.
Mayor Tim Hancock also issued a proclamation recognizing that “the safety of our police officers, firefighters and paramedics is dependent upon the quality and accuracy of information obtained from citizens who contact the Riverton emergency communications center.”
“Public Safety Telecommunicators are the first and most critical contact our citizens have with emergency services,” the proclamation states. “(They) are the single vital link for our police officers, firefighters and paramedics by monitoring their activities by radio, providing them information and ensuring their safety. …
“Public Safety Telecommunicators of the Riverton Police Department have contributed substantially to the apprehension of criminals, suppression of fires and treatment of patients, (and) each dispatcher has exhibited compassion, understanding and professionalism during the performance of their job in the past year.”
The proclamation ends by declaring April 12-18, 2026, to be National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in Riverton, “in honor of the men and women whose diligence and professionalism keep our city and citizens safe.”
“I don’t know how you do it,” Hancock said after reading the proclamation. “But you do it – and you somehow do it with a level of professionalism and compassion that I could only dream of. … You do a lot, and I applaud you and thank you for your hard work.”