This story originally appeared in the May 30-June 5, 2024 edition of The Centre County Gazette.
BELLEFONTE — The Centre County Board of Commissioners recognized the 30th anniversary of the Centre County 911 Emergency Communications System at their meeting on Tuesday, May 28. The three commissioners unanimously approved a proclamation declaring the anniversary.
“June 1, 2024, marks our 30th anniversary of Centre County 911,” Norm Spackman, the emergency communications director at Centre County 911 told commissioners. “The countywide 911 service went live June 1, 1994.”
Three former directors of Centre County 911 were present and honored at the meeting, including Elwood Williams, who was the director while serving as chief of State College Police.
“Elwood was the original county 911 director, taking a vision of a countywide 911 system and turning it into a reality. This project was not easy. There were many obstacles and hurdles, but his determination started the countywide system we have today,” Spackman said.
Dan Tancibok, who originally worked as a dispatcher at State College Police before becoming the assistant director to Williams in 1994, was also recognized. Tancibok became director in 1998 and served until his retirement in 2014.
“It’s unbelievable that it’s 30 years ago that Dan and I set two little offices in the back of the building and the day we arrived we had only a chair. We didn’t have a desk, but we had a chair,” Williams noted. “I’m extremely proud of what’s been accomplished over the years.”
The third former director highlighted at the BOC meeting was Dale Neff. Before joining Centre County 911, Neff worked at State College Police and Penn State. For Centre County 911, Neff served as a dispatcher, midnight supervisor and assistant director before he took on the role of director in 2014 after Tancibok’s retirement.
“Unfortunately, we had some challenges when I was director, not the least of which was COVID-19,” Neff explained. “That brought some unbelievable operational challenges, which my people under the headset, the 911 dispatcher and supervisors, I can’t say enough about how they adapted to change so well and so cheerfully.”
Spackman explained the vital role the Centre County 911 Emergency Communications System plays in the county, especially the work done behind the scenes.
“The amazing core of dispatchers and supervisors who continue to answer 911 calls for emergencies, dispatch fire and EMS every day to our county residents even when our staffing levels struggle in this very difficult employment world we see today,” Spackman said.
In 2023 alone, dispatch staff processed more than 38,000 emergency phone calls, 92,000 non-emergency calls and more than 136,000 incidents involving 89 different agencies. The county’s dispatchers handle 200 to 300 incidents a day, compared to around 100 incidents a day in 1994.
“It’s phenomenal to think in 30 years how far we’ve come,” Commissioner Steve Dershem said. “I think over the course of 30 years you all put a program together that has saved countless lives and really improves the quality of everybody’s sleep because I can’t imagine living in an area that did not have this level of service.”
Commissioner Vice Chair Amber Concepcion further highlighted the technical aspect of the job and how the hard work of Centre County 911 to keep up with the latest technology contributes to making the system more responsive and accurate.
“That’s something that saves lives,” Concepcion remarked. “The work you all did to build this system and continuing to move the technology forward so that we’re able to be more efficient in reaching people who are in crisis.”
