The dispatchers were shocked to receive a higher-than-usual volume of calls. At that time, it was a practice to forward all administration lines to dispatch after business hours, but the day Sheriff Rainy bought them lunch, the whole administration pushed their calls to dispatch at 11 am and recklessly left the building. It goes something like this: Sheriff Rainey of the Contra Costa County wanted to treat all his administrative staff (then called secretaries) to lunch one afternoon, to show appreciation for their work, but did not realize that the administration’s lines should never go unanswered during business hours. There’s quite an interesting backstory that marked the establishment of the week. It was a local initiative that was initially set up in 1981 by Patricia Anderson of Contra Costa County, which later went on to become a nationwide, week-long event. National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week was founded to honor the telecommunication personnel dedicating their lives to public safety. History of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week
