Here is what the public report documented. This is how we experienced it. Here is what we chose to do with it and the leadership lesson I took from it.

​

It's Not Rocket Science.
The words that diminished the work became a call to elevate it.
​
The story began during a period of significant challenges, change, and public controversy surrounding the emergency communications center. The center was experiencing a critical staffing shortage, outdated technology, and decisions that would determine the future of its existence.
​
But the challenges were not limited to staffing, systems, or operations. They included a public narrative that disparaged the emergency communications center and its leadership and, from my perspective, diminished the professionals who continued showing up day after day despite the challenges.
​
In its June 25, 2025 report, the Stanislaus County Civil Grand Jury described several comments concerning the emergency communications center and its leadership as derogatory. The report included the following statements...
​
"Dispatch is not rocket science."
​
"Dispatch is a glorified answering service."
​
"What comes out of SR911 is garbage."
​
The public report provides additional detail regarding the agencies and circumstances involved. I have intentionally left individual names out of this story because its purpose is not to reinvigorate the controversy or personalize the conflict. It is to examine what leaders and teams can do when when faced with adversity.
​
For the 911 professionals who answer calls on the worst days of people's lives, these were more than passing remarks. For those of us who understood what the work required, the comments felt like they reduced years of training, sacrifice, judgment, resilience, and service to something simple and disposable. They also reflected a misunderstanding that 911 first responders across the country fought for decades to overcome.
​
Emergency communications is not a glorified answering service. The job is not easy. It is hard. It takes a toll and the people who choose to continue to do the work are just as valuable as any of their public safety field responder counterparts.
​
These professionals learn complex technology, emergency protocols, geography, radio operations, legal requirements, and the procedures of multiple public safety agencies. They listen to traumatic events unraveling before them, through fear and panic, locate people who may not know where they are, recognize what is not being said, coordinate multiple resources and responders, make rapid fire critical decisions, provide life-saving instructions in seconds when seconds matter most, and do it all simultaneously.
​
They do it without seeing the emergency unfolding in front of them.
​
They become the calm voice in someone else's chaos. They support field responders while caring for people in the most high stakes and critical moments. When one call ends, another begins, often immediately and without time to process the emotional weight of what they have just heard.
​
Again, the work is hard. It is a grind.
​
The people who do it are not "just dispatchers." They are trained emergency responders who answer the call in the midst of the chaos, without warning, without any idea of what they are about to hear and respond to. Every call can be a shock and often they only know just their part of the story. Rarely, do they come to know the outcome of the person on the line. Did they survive? Did I do my job fast enough? Well enough? Could I have changed the outcome in some way? 911 professionals are indispensable members of the public-safety response system. They are the first of the first responders and who most people rely on when they call for help.
​
They deserve better than the words being used to describe them.
​
WE HAD A CHOICE.

We could allow those statements to define our people, or we could reclaim them.
​
We chose to reclaim them.
​
“Dispatch is not rocket science” became "It’s Not Rocket Science." This was a declaration of pride, a defense of the profession, and a reminder that no one else gets to determine the value of you or your people.
​
The team became the “911 Rocket Scientists" and not because the work needed to be made more complicated, but because of its complexity, importance, and their humanity deserved to be recognized.
​
What began as a response inside one emergency communications center soon traveled far beyond its walls. Shirts, photographs, pins, messages, and personal stories were shared by 911 professionals and supporters across the country. People who had never met one another stood together around a shared message:
​
The work matters. The people matter. Their value will not be diminished.

A series of disparaging comments had grown into a broader call within the 911 community to recognize and elevate emergency communications professionals.

THE LARGER LEADERSHIP LESSON

The story is not about retaliation. It is about reclamation, recognition, and resilience.
​
It is about the responsibility leaders have to stand beside their people through the storm. To act as an advocate when they are misunderstood, minimized, or dismissed. It is about refusing to meet disrespect with more disrespect and instead, transform it into a call for positive change, education, solidarity, and meaningful action.
​
Sometimes leadership means challenging a system.
​
Sometimes it means changing a culture.
​
And sometimes it means looking at a group of people who have been told their work is not meaningful, does not matter, or is not good enough and reminding them....
​
I see you. I know what this work requires. You matter and we refuse to let this moment define us.

​Words that diminished the work became the spark that elevated it..
​
That spark became a story. That story became a call to action. And that call to action sent me down a new path to help people step into their potential, reach their goals, and become better leaders.
​
Because leadership is not earned through promotion. It is demonstrated through influence, especially when you use that influence to break barriers, protect the dignity of your people, and turn adversity into impact.

​

There were moments when the easier path would have been to disengage, quiet the response, and simply move on. I chose a different path. Not retaliation. Not escalation. Advocacy. I believed leadership required standing beside the people doing this work while helping turn a difficult moment into something constructive. A leader does not abandon their people when they need them most. Leadership means helping your people move through adversity rather than letting it define them.
​
That is the It's Not Rocket Science Story. The words that could have diminished us became a reason to stand taller, together.