When emergencies arise, 911 telecommunicators are often the first point of contact in the most critical moments—the calm voice amid chaos, offering steady support through the unthinkable. During National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, we celebrate these incredible professionals whose quick thinking, dedication, and compassion save lives.
At RapidDeploy, it’s our mission to improve public safety with tools and technology to reduce response times and increase situational awareness. But that mission is only made possible by the people who answer the calls for help. That’s why, each quarter, we present the RapidDeploy Superstar Award—an honor given to telecommunicators who go above and beyond in leveraging RapidDeploy’s NG911 technology to protect their communities.
As part of this year’s celebration, we’ve created a video compilation honoring our Superstar recipients. These aren’t just stories—they’re moments that have changed lives. And today, during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, we’re sharing the people behind those moments with you.
Watch the full compilation video to hear these stories come to life and celebrate the extraordinary telecommunicators behind them.
When a man stranded on a tiny island near the U.S.-Canada border called 911, his call was misrouted to the Ontario Provincial Police. Attempts to transfer the call back to the Minnesota State Patrol failed—no location data, no caller information, and no time to waste.
Enter Radio Command Officers (RCOs) Justin Armstrong, J.P. Lundell, Nick Selness, and Jordan Weidenhaft.
Using only the man’s phone number, the Minnesota State Patrol telecommunicators pulled up Radius Mapping and identified his exact coordinates. By pinpointing his location amongst hundreds of islands, the RCOs coordinated a rescue with local teams, leading to a successful recovery.
“Public safety is often defined by moments of incredible pressure,” said RapidDeploy Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, Todd Komanetsky, who presented the team with the RapidDeploy Superstar Award. “These telecommunicators took action. They helped save a life.”
To read the full story behind this cross-border rescue, click here to read the blog.
From a cross-jurisdictional manhunt to a classroom lockdown and a medical emergency on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina, Derek Kennedy, Zachary McMillion, and Kacey Rogers, of the Anderson County 911 Communication Center proved that telecommunicators must be ready for anything.
In one incident, Zachary used RapidDeploy’s ‘Additional Data’ feature to uncover personal details regarding a “Be On the Lookout” fugitive, which led him to use Radius Mapping’s RapidLocate feature to make contact with and determine the suspect’s location. In another incident, Zachary and Derek assisted students during a school lockdown using live text and image-sharing capabilities. Lastly, when a transferred call came into the Anderson County 911 center with no data attached to the call, RCO Kacey Rogers used RapidDeploy’s location accuracy to pinpoint the location of a caller who had experienced a medical emergency while boating, and then helped to coordinate a water rescue of that caller.
These three recipients were not only honored with the RapidDeploySuperstar Award, but they also were recognized with the 2024 Crime Stoppers Award—a testament to the life-saving power of quick thinking and technology.
You can read the full story in our press release and learn more about their incredible efforts.
A 911 call plotted on RapidDeploy’s Radius map but never rang through on the line. When the telecommunicator called the dropped call back, there was no response. Many would have marked it down and moved on. But Ashley Willis, a telecommunicator with the Indialantic Police Department in Florida, trusted her instinct to follow up further on the missed call.
Using Radius Mapping, Ashley pinpointed the exact location of the dropped call and sent officers to investigate. Law enforcement arrived to find a pregnant woman in immediate danger—a victim of domestic abuse.
Ashley’s quick reaction and refusal to let the silence speak for itself helped save a life that day.
“Ashley demonstrated extraordinary dedication and quick action,” said RapidDeploy Co-Founder Steve Raucher. “We’re proud to honor her with the Superstar Award.”
You can read the full story in our press release for more details about Ashley’s incredible story.
On August 8, 2023, one of the worst wildfires in U.S. history engulfed Maui, Hawaii. As flames spread and citizens fled for safety, the Maui County 911 Communications Center faced nearly triple their usual call volume.
Amid the overwhelming chaos, the Maui team utilized RapidDeploy’s cloud-native platform to see, monitor, and manage real-time emergency responses. From routing ambulances to evacuating neighborhoods, their composure helped save countless lives.
RapidDeploy recognized the entire team at the Maui County 911 Communications Center with the RapidDeploy Superstar Award—a first in the award's history—for their technological acumen and unshakable unity in the face of disaster.
To learn more about their extraordinary response during the Maui wildfires, read the full press release here.
A 911 call came through to Derrik Gregg, Communications Supervisor at the Scottsdale Police Department in Arizona. The voice said quickly she would call right back. Then she hung up. No details.
Derrik Gregg strongly felt something wasn’t right. Rather than wait for more information, Derrik took immediate action—leveraging RapidDeploy’s Radius Mapping breadcrumbs feature to track the call on his map and recognized the caller was in motion. He then leveraged RapidDeploy’s platform to tap into additional data, such as the mobile device’s movement history and available contact details stored in the caller’s device, to uncover situational insights. Derrik sent officers to track down the moving vehicle.
Derrik’s insights and follow through led him to discover that the caller had been involved in a domestic violence hit and run incident. After running her over, the caller had been kidnapped, and was transported away from her original location against her will.
Thanks to his fast thinking and strategic use of the platform’s data tools, law enforcement successfully intercepted and ensured the victim’s safety. Derrik’s story is a powerful reminder that sometimes, the right combination of instinct and actionable intelligence can mean the difference between danger and rescue.
For a deeper look into Derrik’s life-saving response, read the full press release here.
Some calls don’t come with sound.
That was the case when Meghan Gonzalez of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office received a text-to-911 message from someone who couldn’t speak.
Meghan initiated a two-way text conversation, used Radius Mapping to track the caller’s location and movements, and quickly confirmed the terrifying truth: a kidnapping was in progress, and the woman was being transported in the trunk of a car.
Meghan’s coordination of first responders to the moving vehicle led to a swift recovery of the victim and apprehension of the suspect. Meghan’s ability to remain calm, engaged, and resourceful under pressure helped save a life—and brought a predator to justice.
To read the full account of Meghan’s heroic response, view the press release here.
A panicked woman called 911 from a boat in a Florida bay. Her husband had fallen overboard and rough water had swept him away. The boat engine had stalled; the weather was treacherous, time was slipping away, and the caller could no longer see her husband in the water. Heather Mayo, a telecommunicator with the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, sprang into action.
She sent the caller a link to RapidVideo, allowing Heather to see exactly what the caller saw. Using video and location sharing, she walked the woman through restarting the boat engine and navigating the bay to locate her husband in the water and pull him to safety.
He was rescued just in time.
Heather didn’t just coordinate a rescue—she became part of it. And her actions earned her the first-ever RapidDeploy Superstar Award.
You can read the full blog here to learn more about Heather’s remarkable rescue call.
Every one of these stories shows what it means to be a telecommunicator: To act fast. To stay steady. To care deeply. To work behind the scenes—yet be the center of every emergency.
These heroes may not always wear uniforms, but they wear headsets—and they are just as vital, just as brave, and just as worthy of recognition as anyone on the scene.
So this week, we honor all of you: The ones who answer the call, guide the rescue, calm the fear, and help ensure no one faces an emergency alone. Thank you, from all of us at RapidDeploy. Thank you for using your tools and resources with excellence. For showing up, shift after shift. And for reminding us why we do what we do.
Know a telecommunicator who’s gone above and beyond? Share their save story—we’d love to hear it.
Happy National Telecommunicators Week.
