911 dispatcher honored for handling of crisis

Such calls show the need for more than one dispatcher, the 911 director said.

WARREN — It takes a certain kind of person to handle calls from people in crisis.

But that is what Trumbull County 911 call taker Cynthia Orslene did Sept. 27, and it may have saved lives, said her boss, 911 director Mike Dolhancryk.

On Thursday, county commissioners honored Orslene with the Meritorious Service Award for helping a woman for 20 to 25 minutes last September whose husband was threatening to kill himself. She also helped officers from several departments find and apprehend the husband by relaying a description of the man’s vehicle and other information.

The woman called at 10:57 a.m., saying she was inside her car with her two children at a relative’s house in Bristol Township, and her husband was outside the car with a gun. The tape recording of the call makes it clear the woman was in anguish and fear, Dolhancryk said.

Minutes later, the husband attempted to shoot, but the gun jammed. At 11:04, he left in a pickup truck with another gun.

The wife was tempted to follow her husband to try to save him, but Orslene’s calming influence helped the woman keep herself and her children out of harm’s way, Dolhancryk said.

“Despite such horrifying conditions, Orslene reached out to the caller and began the process of bringing the caller back from her world of fear. With an extreme effort, Orslene was able to convince the mother to safeguard her children,” Dolhancryk told commissioners.

About an hour after the call came in, the husband was safely taken into custody.

Dolhancryk said the call is an example of the need for dispatchers to sometimes stay on the phone for long periods when the situation warrants, such as suicide threats or when someone believes a break-in has occurred in their house.

Calm, good advice in such situations is important because suicidal or scared people sometimes “do something crazy,” he said.

Dolhancryk has encouraged communities to join the county 911 system since he was hired as its director in late 2006. One reason he gives is that the county 911 system has several call takers working at the same time, whereas many smaller call centers have just one worker and would have trouble handling long calls or simultaneous calls.

“It could not have been handled by minimal staff,” Dolhancryk said of the situation. “We are fortunate it came into Trumbull 911.”