ARLINGTON, Texas, January 28, 2020 — The North Central Texas Emergency Communications District (NCT9-1-1) will graduate 16 9-1-1 telecommunicators from its Regional Telecommunicator Academy (RTA) Class #009 on January 31 in Arlington. This class includes recruits from 12 different agencies, including Dallas ISD, the Mineral Wells Police Department, and the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office, among others. 
The graduating recruits will have completed a rigorous four-week program that teaches equipment use, state mandates and regulations, how to handle emergency communications situations such as activeshootings, and more. Texas is the only state in the country that requires its telecommunicators to be licensed alongside peace officers and jailers, and NCT9-1-1 hosts the only 9-1-1 telecommunicator academy in the state. The district welcomes recruits from outside its region to participate and this year includes participants from Dallas ISD.
“At the academy, we’re not just training people to fill positions,” said NCT9-1-1 Training Coordinator Bret Batchelor. “We’re building a community of resiliency and comradery with our recruits. I want them to walk away with the skills to not only be successful at their new jobs, but to build a lifelong career as a 9-1-1 telecommunicator and to one day pass on their experiences to the next generation of dispatchers.”
The program has graduated recruits from all over Texas and Arkansas since its inception in February of 2016 and continues to grow with classes held twice a year in the winter and summer.
What: Graduation Ceremony for Regional Telecommunicator Academy Class #009
Where: 600 Six Flags Drive Suite 226, Arlington, TX 76011
When: January 31, 1:00 PM
Why: Celebrate the graduation of 16 new telecommunicators in North Texas
###
About the North Central Texas Emergency Communications District
The North Central Texas Emergency Communications District (NCT9-1-1) is responsible for 40 plus Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) in the 13 counties surrounding the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The district supports these PSAPs through maintaining and upgrading 9-1-1 equipment, providing up-to-date mapping information, training 9-1 telecommunicators, educating the public on the proper use of 9-1-1, and monitoring PSAP functionality and compliances. NCT9-1-1 serves a population of 1.7 million and 10,000+ square miles.