Recognizing Emergency Dispatchers

And that's an emergency dispatcher. "We are the first responder when you have someone in your house who is burglarizing your house in the middle of the night. We're the calm voice on the other end of the line."

Mary Crandall is a "newcomer" to Sparks dispatch, she's got 2 years on the job. "You always have to be ready to listen to more than one thing at a time."

And National Public Safety Telecommunications week is around the corner.

Crandall and her co-workers will get some recognition for providing emergency help to residents. "They're really the unsung heroes here," says Sparks Police Officer Tom Crouse.

They took more than 130,000 calls in 2009, more than 26,000 of those were for emergencies.

Caller, "Oh my God."

Dispatcher, "What's going on?"

Caller, "I don't know."

Dispatcher, "What did you hear?"

Caller, "Chad told me to call the police to check out his friend's house, Steve and Bob."

Crandall is the dispatcher in this 911 call recording from October 18th of last year.

Chad Recob was recently sentenced for his crimes from this early morning.

His mom is the one Crandall is talking to in the call.

Caller, "He's got a rifle."

Dispatcher, "He's got a rifle in his hand?"

Caller, "Chad, put the gun down."

As officers showed up, things in the Sparks neighborhood heated up.

Caller, "Oh god, there's more shots."

Dispatcher, "More shots."

Caller, "I've got to close the door. I'm afraid to see what he's doing."

Officers were heard in the background through the radio, "Shots fired."

Recob hit a patrol car and did fire at officers, but no one was hurt and Recob was arrested.

Crouse says, "Oftentimes the people that are calling in are extremely upset. They, number one have to use their skills to calm them down to get the particular information that we require to respond to those calls and they do that very, very well."

Reno and Washoe County will also recognize their emergency dispatcher's next week.