ALBANY, N.Y. - During the Fall Conference for the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO)-Atlantic Chapter, held October 8-12 in Albany, N.Y., four members of the Newtown Emergency Communications Center (NECC) were honored with the chapter's Team/Unit of the Year Award.

Newtown dispatchers Ryan Doyle, Claudia Ibarra, Kevin Marchand, and Jamie Nisbet were recognized for their performance during an event that occurred on January 13, 2016, on Berkshire Road. The call for service that afternoon was very dynamic in nature as Newtown High School was put into lockdown, the suspect had left Berkshire Motors - across the street from the high school - where the call for service originated, and the suspect was believed to be very distraught.

School buses needed to be diverted (middle school was dismissing at the time of the incident, as was one elementary school), and additional units responding to the scene included the Emergency Services Unit (ESU) personnel and EMS on standby. At the same time, there were multiple calls going into NECC from parents, first responders, and the media.

The four dispatchers "maintained their calm and control over the situation, three working the consoles, one running messages to officers in the building and handling walk-in calls for service and answering a phone as needed," said Maureen Will, director of NECC. "I never once had to interfere with their operation. I could answer questions as needed and continue doing my job.

"This particular call for service my staff dreads, as any issues that affect our schools becomes a media event," she continued. "Further, they needed to maintain their calmness and complete data entry to keep the secondary Public Safety Telecommunicator updated with information."

The call ended successfully with no injuries to the suspect or the responders.

"Their actions on January 13 exemplify the professionalism of the staff at the Newtown Emergency communications Center and show exactly how we, and every public safety telecommunicator, does it every day," Ms Will said. "They worked as team and they kept our responders and community safe. They made me proud, as they always do."

In addition to the team of dispatchers who were honored during the conference, Ms Will was named APCO-Atlantic Chapter Trainer of the Year.

"I don't know how they did that one, but those who decided on awards were able to surprise me," she said.

APCO-Atlantic Chapter encompasses Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Chartered in August 1966, the Atlantic chapter is celebrating its

50th anniversary this year.

The conference last month was a joint event with the New York State 911 Coordinators.