FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: Oct. 19, 2009 Aurora Public Safety Communications inspires new award of excellence

AURORA, Colo. – When Aurora’s Public Safety Communications Department (PSC) sent their application, hoping to win one of the distinguished awards from the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), they never guessed the NENA would create an award just for them. Each year, the Colorado chapter of NENA recognizes outstanding 9-1-1 Centers by presenting several awards at the NENA-APCO Forum and Technology show. At the October show, NENA felt because of the Aurora 9-1-1 Center’s outstanding 2008 accomplishments, they inspired a new and “special” award – “Center of Excellence.” The Aurora 9-1-1 Center has a proven record of accomplishment in rising to every occasion and exceeding standards in the area of training, customer service and teamwork. The staff handled more than 386,730 calls in 2008. This includes 209,169 9-1-1 calls and 177,568 non-emergency police calls and fire calls. Department improvements and innovations from all levels of the Center have helped Aurora deal with increasing call volumes. Some of the accomplishments are: Increased new hire retention rate by 17 percent Completed over 19,000 hours of training, 95 percent of the cost did not impact the city’s budget Held the first ever multi-agency trainings and education roundtable Created the Leadership Project to address critical leadership skills and succession planning Implemented innovative work schedule, including eight and 10 hour shifts and varied start times for maximum coverage Reduced overtime more than 65 percent 96.7 percent of all 9-1-1 calls answered within 10 seconds. The national standard is 90 percent. Developed a 24 hour peer-support program to assist staff in dealing with the aftermath of critical incidents Created a mentoring program to pair experienced staff with new hires for guidance and support For more information: www.auroragov.org /Departments/Public Safety Communications Department; NENA www.nena.org. # # # Media Contact: Kathy Cable Senior Public Information Officer 303-739-7013 kcable@auroragov.org