Township Honors 5-year Lower Providence Police Dispatcher

A presentation was held at the Aug. 16 Lower Providence Board of Supervisors meeting, honoring the five-year service of township police dispatcher Jason Connelly.

As read by board of supervisors chair Richard Brown, the township hired Connelly as a police dispatcher on Aug. 9, 2007.

According to Brown, Connelly is a 1998 graduate of William Tennant High School. He is certified as a 9-1-1 call taker and dispatcher by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. Connelly has also completed the 9-1-1 dispatcher course, and is a certified Commonwealth Law Enforcement Assistant Network Operator.

Connelly is also a firefighter in North Penn and North Wales, as well as an emergency medical technician.

Lower Providence Police chief, Francis Carroll, expressed his thanks to Connelly.

“He’s done a great job for us in the five years,’ Carroll said.

According to Carroll, the majority of Connelly’s dispatching work has been through the overnight shift.

“No one really understands the demands of shift work, particularly on the overnight shift,” Carroll said. “When you get a call on the overnight shift, it’s for real.”

Carroll went on to explain that overnight 9-1-1 calls are typically true emergency situations, during which Connelly has demonstrated great composure and compassion for those on the line.

“Jason was always the calm, steady voice on the other end of the phone” Carroll said. “And, for our police officers, he was always a steadying influence.”