Justice, Carpenter Retiring From Dispatch
January 26, 2023 at 9:06 p.m.
Justice, Carpenter Retiring From Dispatch
By Jackie [email protected]
Their retirement, which will be today for both women, was celebrated with a reception Thursday at the Kosciusko County Justice Building.
Kosciusko County Sheriff Jim Smith said the two women have a combined experience of 54 years.
He said it’s easy to get focused on your part of the job and it took him to become sheriff to take a step back and realize “it takes every piece of emergency services to do what we do.”
When he thinks of every tough call he’s had over the years, it’s started with central dispatch.
“In a lot of ways, they’re the unsung heroes, right behind the scenes, but you’re in there with us. We can’t do what we do - same thing fire, EMS - without dispatchers doing their job,” Smith said.
“These two have been a huge part in making that transition from the very first steps all the way to where it’s up today and I think they need to be recognized for everything they’ve done over the years to get us there, so thank you very much,” said Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Chris McKeand.
Smith said, selfishly, he doesn’t want to lose them, but he’s happy that they are finding happiness moving forward.
Justice has worked as a dispatcher for 32 years. She said she was working at an EMS and coworkers there dared her to apply for a job as a dispatcher. She started at Warsaw Police Department and was a dispatcher there for 10 years. And then in August 2000, the dispatch centers in the county were combined “and I’ve been here ever since.”
She said a dispatcher answers 911 calls, administration calls, enters warrants and helps a lot with the paperwork.
“We dispatch 38 emergency agencies in Kosciusko County,” she said.
Some of the memories she has are helping people deliver babies and helping people after they found deceased loved ones.
Justice decided to leave for a job opportunity. She said it was a hard decision, “it still is.”
She said she’s going to miss her coworkers a lot and helping people with their emergencies.
The reason she stayed so long as a dispatcher was because she loved the job.
Carpenter is retiring as the 911 director. She has been with central dispatch for 22 years. She worked on the floor for 18 years and became the assistant director and “bumped up to the actual director a few years ago.”
She got into the job because she wanted to help people. Some of the good memories that go with the job are the good feelings “you get like when you’re able to help people” and becoming family with coworkers, she said. She won’t miss the sad calls, though.
She decided it was time to leave her position for something with less stress, as she will be working with the Kosciusko County Treasurer’s Office.
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Their retirement, which will be today for both women, was celebrated with a reception Thursday at the Kosciusko County Justice Building.
Kosciusko County Sheriff Jim Smith said the two women have a combined experience of 54 years.
He said it’s easy to get focused on your part of the job and it took him to become sheriff to take a step back and realize “it takes every piece of emergency services to do what we do.”
When he thinks of every tough call he’s had over the years, it’s started with central dispatch.
“In a lot of ways, they’re the unsung heroes, right behind the scenes, but you’re in there with us. We can’t do what we do - same thing fire, EMS - without dispatchers doing their job,” Smith said.
“These two have been a huge part in making that transition from the very first steps all the way to where it’s up today and I think they need to be recognized for everything they’ve done over the years to get us there, so thank you very much,” said Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Chris McKeand.
Smith said, selfishly, he doesn’t want to lose them, but he’s happy that they are finding happiness moving forward.
Justice has worked as a dispatcher for 32 years. She said she was working at an EMS and coworkers there dared her to apply for a job as a dispatcher. She started at Warsaw Police Department and was a dispatcher there for 10 years. And then in August 2000, the dispatch centers in the county were combined “and I’ve been here ever since.”
She said a dispatcher answers 911 calls, administration calls, enters warrants and helps a lot with the paperwork.
“We dispatch 38 emergency agencies in Kosciusko County,” she said.
Some of the memories she has are helping people deliver babies and helping people after they found deceased loved ones.
Justice decided to leave for a job opportunity. She said it was a hard decision, “it still is.”
She said she’s going to miss her coworkers a lot and helping people with their emergencies.
The reason she stayed so long as a dispatcher was because she loved the job.
Carpenter is retiring as the 911 director. She has been with central dispatch for 22 years. She worked on the floor for 18 years and became the assistant director and “bumped up to the actual director a few years ago.”
She got into the job because she wanted to help people. Some of the good memories that go with the job are the good feelings “you get like when you’re able to help people” and becoming family with coworkers, she said. She won’t miss the sad calls, though.
She decided it was time to leave her position for something with less stress, as she will be working with the Kosciusko County Treasurer’s Office.
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