[Scan-DC] Trego sisters' voices help keep Cecil County safe

[Alan Henney]

Cecil Whig (Elkton, Maryland)

April 18, 2014 Friday

Trego sisters' voices help keep Cecil County safe

BYLINE: Adelma GregoryBunnell agregory at cecilwhig.com

SECTION: NEWS

LENGTH: 740 words

ELKTON - Hundreds of Cecil Countians may know the Trego sisters without having ever seen them in person.

>From the amateur scanner listener to those involved with fire departments, emergency medical services and law enforcement, hundreds hear the voices of Holly and Kay Trego every day as they dispatch aid to those in need. Those that know them say the "Sisters Deuce" help keep the county safe through the night.

Telecommunicators Week, the first full week in April, started at the Contra Costa County California Sheriff 's Office in 1981, but began to grow in observation in the '80s when Virginia and North Carolina agencies joined on. In 1994, it became a permanent National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week. This month, Cecil County also thanked the Tregoes and other telecommunicators for the valuable aid they provide the community. 

Capt. Holly Trego has worked at the Cecil County Department of Emergency Services for 17 years. She was hired in 1995 by then Director Rosemary Culley, who was remembered in the county for being the voice of fire dispatch for years, including the December 1963 night that Flight 214 crashed into an Elkton cornfield.

"At the time, we had four dispatchers working each eight-hour swing shift," Holly said. "I was intimidated by the old system that they used to have before I started. There were so many buttons."

Dispatch was located at the Cecil County Detention Center on Landing Lane in Elkton then, but several years later it moved to CCDES' new headquarters along with the sheriff's office off Chesapeake Boulevard near Elkton. The dispatch crew also received a new computerized system, which allows them to take calls and then reroute them to the appropriate authority.

"As soon as you call 911 and say whether you need police, fire or EMS, we have another dispatcher who is alerting the response that you need," Holly said.

The CCDES call center now has seven dispatchers and a lieutenant on every shift, which are still swing shifts, but now run 12 hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Holly said. Each shift has three police dispatchers, two call takers, and two fire and EMS dispatchers along with a supervisor. Last year, the call center received 166,338 calls on the 911 line alone, which is roughly 15,000 calls a month, Holly said. Its busiest time now is between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Holly's older sister, Kay, began working as a dispatcher for the Maryland State Police's North East barrack about five-and-a-half years ago.

"I had been a volunteer in emergency medical service for over 20 years with Singerly Fire Company," Kay said. "I had talked on the radio thousands of times, but I was terrified to talk on the police radio. I had to get over that quickly, because my first priority is communicating to troopers where they need to go."

The state police's call center employs five police communications officers on 8-hour swing shifts and works out of the North East barrack, she said.

"We are the busiest criminal barrack in the state, though we don't handle as many calls as DES," Kay said.

Holly added that the growth of cell phones and other technology has increased the volume of calls that dispatch crews have to attend to.

"Now that everyone has a cell phone, if you have an accident, four people may call for that same accident," she said, noting that before cell phones, accident victims had to find aid to call 911.

In her career, Holly said she has unfortunately had to direct response to some of the county's worst incidents.

"I have had some big ones like the double fatal accident on Principo Furnace, the Cedar Hill Apartment fire, the box truck in the Susquehanna, the ISE chicken house fire, and the North East Plaza fire to name a few," she said.

"When I go home, I turn off the scanner because I need some down time," said Holly, but she isn't always get away from it as she lives with her sister. That inevitably means a scanner is being listened to by someone.

Kay said she is comforted knowing that her sister is working the other side of first response.

"I know how seriously she takes her job and her responsibility, maybe it's because she is my sister. I don't know, but I do know that," she said. "I like it when my little sister is there and I am over here."

Holly agreed, adding that together they see themselves almost like shepherds, making sure the flock returns safely.

"Our motto is: Everybody goes home," Holly said. "I feel we both play a big role in that."