NICE News Special Edition - Volume 2, Issue 10

	JIM PARK UPDATE SECURING THE EIFFEL TOWER TRAINING BREAK: SCENARIO REPLAY WIN AN IPOD: ENTER OUR CONTEST KANSAS CITY MISSOURI PUBLIC SAFETY TELECOMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR: JUDI REEVES MASSACHUSETTS BAY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY NICE IN THE NEWS "ALL IN ORDER" INTELLIGENT SECURITY CYCLE WHITE PAPER STRATHCLYDE POLICE PUBLIC SAFETY RESOURCE CENTER NICE EVENTS




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MEET NICE TELECOMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR, NYPD POLICE COMMUNICATION TECHNICIAN JUDI REEVES

Dedication. Perseverance. Boundless energy, caring and zest for life. Perhaps no one exemplifies these characteristics more than NICE Telecommunicator of the Year, Judi Reeves. A mom of two, Judi has spent the last two plus decades juggling dual careers (one as an NYPD communications technician and another in the Army Reserve). In recent years, she has even made time to pursue a third career path, in another characteristically caring profession – nursing.

“My schedule has been pretty much around the clock,” Reeves said in a typical understated fashion. “But somehow it all worked out.”

While attending nursing school, Reeves would get up at three-thirty each morning to make the drive into the City to begin her seven a.m. shift as a Police Communications Technician (PCT) at the NYPD Public Safety Answering Center. She’d leave work just in time to make it to her evening nursing class at a local community college. Days off meant early wakeups, too – to catch up on studying or to participate in mandatory Army Reserve weekend drills.

Those early wakeup calls paid off, though. In May of 2004, Reeves received her nursing degree from Orange County Community College. But life took an unexpected turn when soon afterwards, she received word that her Reserve Unit might be activated for duty in Iraq.

In May of 2005, Sergeant Reeves was deployed to Iraq along with her Unit, the U.S. Army 344^th TF Medical/Surgical Team. In Iraq, she honed her nursing skills, working as a military operating room technician. It was a difficult and draining assignment. Like so many who serve in the Military, Reeves endured the hardship of having to leave her family, including her 14-year old daughter Jade, to serve abroad. But like so many other things in Reeves’ life, she says, it all worked out. A friend at the NYPD stepped in to help out. “I called and emailed when I could,” Reeves said.

Reeves completed her one-year tour of duty as an operating room technician in May of 2006 and rejoined the NYPD as a public safety telecommunicator in October.

Interestingly, Reeves, who has worked both sides of the fence as a call-taker and as a dispatcher for the NYPD, sees distinct similarities in the roles of nursing and public safety telecommunications, which probably explains her gravitation toward both professions.

“With 9-1-1, you have to be in control of what’s going on,” explains Reeves. “If a caller is scared you have to calm the caller down, so you can get the information you need to help. You have to be able to control your emotions, but at the same time you can’t be disconnected,” she added. “You have to really have a desire to help.”

According to Reeves, nursing, like public safety telecommunications, can also be a delicate balancing act between caring and at the same time maintaining control, in very difficult, emotionally charged, and potentially life threatening situations. “As a nurse, you have to be hands on. You get emotionally involved. But you also have to be able to pull yourself back from that,” she said.

Situations can turn on a dime, whether you’re assisting a surgical team or fielding a 9-1-1 call, so Reeves says that good communication skills and the ability to anticipate what might happen next are necessary skills to succeed in both jobs. “You definitely need to be able to anticipate what could happen,” she said, “because things can look one way and then quickly turn bad.”

While Reeves’ supervisors at the NYPD continue to encourage her pursuit of nursing as a full-time profession, she says she has mixed feelings about moving on to this new chapter of her life. “I’m looking to get into nursing. I’d like to pursue a career in the operating room, but I’m not sure I’m ready to go yet,” she said. “I love the camaraderie of the police department and the military.”

If and when that transition ever comes, there’s no doubt that Reeves will be sorely missed at the NYPD. Captain Vincent A. Guerriera, Commanding Officer of the Communications Section at the NYPD, nominated Reeves for the 2006 NICE Telecommunicator of the Year Award and had this to say about her. “PCT Reeves has dedicated her life to serving the public as well as her Country. She is respected not only by her peers, but by uniformed members of the service in which she serves diligently. She has been an active member of the community as well as her Country and is more than an example to her peers.”