Emergency operators honored for their work

Every profession has its unsung heroes, the people without whom those who get the glory and limelight could not achieve the things they achieve.

In football, it's the offensive linemen in the trenches keeping the star quarterback safe.

In law firms it's the junior associates and paralegals doing the grunt work that makes star litigators look brilliant in court.

And in law enforcement, it's the telecommunicators whose behind-the-scenes work make heroic efforts by police and firefighters possible, and sometimes can be the difference between life and death.

Those dedicated professionals were in the limelight last week as police and fire agencies across the country celebrated National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, giving much-deserved recognition to an often forgotten part of the law enforcement community.

"Our telecommunicators are out first line of defense," McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren said. "We rely on them to get the ball rolling in solving problems."

At McHenry County's 911 Center, supervisor Pat McCarthy and her dispatchers marked the week in typically low-key fashion while keeping a close watch on more than three dozen officers on the street and fielding about 100 calls during a typical hour.

"We're the first contact people make when calling for help, but once the police or firefighters get out there, we're forgotten about," she said. "For most of us, that's OK. We're not out to have our pictures taken or anything like that."

They are, however, out to help people, a task they accomplish sometimes under the most trying circumstances.

"They remain calm in situations where there is no calm," Nygren said. "They have to be a doctor, a psychologist, a police officer and a firefighter, all over the phone."

For 17-year telecommunicator Scott DeSantis, the key to being effective is fairly simple.

"Treat (callers) like they're your family," he said. "Even when they're yelling and screaming at you, treat them like family."

Elite company: Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Philip Hiscock joined a select group of prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers recently when the Illinois Supreme Court admitted him to Capital Litigation Bar, the cadre of attorneys permitted by the state to try death-penalty cases.

Created by the Supreme Court in 2001, the Capital Litigation Bar is intended to ensure that attorneys who handle death-penalty cases have the qualifications, skills and experience to take on such an important undertaking.

Hiscock said last week he is flattered to be included in that group.

"I'm honored that other attorneys believe I'm proficient enough and capable enough to take on capital cases," he said. "It makes me feel that I've done a good job and others believe I'm skilled as a criminal prosecutor."

He joins fellow assistant state's attorneys Nichole Owens and Donna Kelly in the small group of McHenry County attorneys to qualify for the capital litigation bar.

Among the defense lawyers to qualify are Henry Sugden, who practices in Crystal Lake, and Jim McAuliff, a longtime prosecutor who recently switched to private practice and now works out of offices in Harvard.

Hiscock joined the state's attorney's office almost a year ago after spending several years as a criminal prosecutor in DuPage County. He is a 1999 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law and a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve.