'We have to stay strong': 911 dispatchers look back on Highland Park shooting

Annie Marchiafava asked an employee she manages at the Glenview Public Safety Dispatch Center if the worker would like to talk about the events of July 4, 2022.

Not quite yet, was the response.

Ever since the first call came in at 10:14 a.m. from a police officer who reported shots fired at Central Avenue in Highland Park, feelings remain tender among dispatchers who worked up to 18-hour shifts on the day the city was rocked by a mass shooting.

"I think it affected all of them in their own unique ways," said Brent Reynolds, who oversees the dispatch center as Glenview's director of public safety support services.

Joint dispatch has a south center in the Glenview municipal complex and a north center in the Highland Park police station. The operation serves 18 fire and police departments within 14 communities.

"You have to imagine, one of the telecommunicators working in the south center didn't know any of this was going on until the 911 call he answered was from a relative of one of the victims who had just been shot and killed right next to that person," Reynolds said.

"That was the first call he received, from a person who was having the worst moment of their life. He did an excellent job, but that's just one example of the types of things that the telecommunicators experience. They thankfully don't expect mass casualty events like this, but they hear things that have a lasting effect on them," he said.

Reynolds was at Antioch's Independence Day parade when dispatch notified him of the Highland Park shooting. He and 911 shift supervisors Andrew Ostman, John Bianchi and Marchiafava - now operations manager - were among 28 Dispatch Center personnel the Glenview village board recognized on Aug. 23 for their efforts.

Reynolds, also president of the Illinois chapter of the Association for Public-Safety Communications Officials, noted the Regional Emergency Dispatch "RED" Center in Northbrook, a divisional headquarters for the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, "definitely played a part" supplementing response such as dispatching ambulances.

On a typical July 4, Glenview Public Safety Dispatch handles an average of 1,143 calls, Village President Mike Jenny said last August. On July 4, 2022, dispatch answered 3,346.

Within an hour of that first call, 20 supervisors and telecommunicators were at their posts, nearly three times the norm for a July 4.

"Many of them reported to work not even being notified," Reynolds said. "They heard what was going on and responded into work knowing their assistance would be needed."

Marchiafava, who had been scheduled for a noon to midnight shift but rushed to Highland Park as soon as she heard the news, called their work "outstanding."

"The communication between the two centers and the command post (Highland Park Fire Station 33), it flowed and everyone was there for the same mission, which was awesome to see," she said. "It was pretty impressive to see how everyone gelled together."

Starting that Monday with what Reynolds called the "organized chaos" of relaying information between different officials, agencies and departments - and communicating with the public during what for hours remained an active threat - calls didn't taper off until the shooter was apprehended about 6:30 p.m., Marchiafava said.

People continued to call over the next several days. Some sought information on how they could help or donate food and water. Others asked if they could reclaim parked cars or the belongings they had left along the parade route, taped-off while under investigation.

Some called with "conspiracy theories," Reynolds said.

"Then there's the sadder part of those calls, the family members and friends calling to locate a friend or family member they can't reach either because they're in the hospital, or worse," Reynolds said.

Dispatch returned to a sense of normalcy, in a relative sense, by Thursday or Friday, he said.

"There's people who may forever be affected by this tragedy in dispatch, and all first responders," Marchiafava said. "But we had a huge outpouring of support from so many dispatching communities, it was almost overwhelming but beautiful to see."

Despite the mental strain of that day, no one left their post. Dispatchers had to be told to get rest for their own welfare.

Then, as it will be this Independence Day, they were back on the job.

"We constantly remember those that are gone because of this senseless act," Marchiafava said. "But this is dispatch and we've got to keep pushing through and it's on to the next call. Our job is to be there for the community and the responders, so we have to stay strong."