Name: Teri Tasa
Title: Communications Specialist, aka dispatcher
Years with SPD: One year and eight months
Q: What inspired you to become a dispatcher?
I took the emergency medical technician course back in 1991. At the end of the semester I had to take my clinical time in the emergency room, where I almost fainted on three occasions. It was then I realized that I could not handle blood. I have had several jobs since then, but none of them gave me the satisfaction I was seeking. I just wanted to help others.
Q: What was it about Sedona Police Department that made you apply?
I had been helping my father run his heating, ventilation and air conditioning business and after he retired, I ran the business for a couple of years. It made me realize that I wanted to do something different. It was at that time I found a job opening in communications at Sedona Police Department and I thought it sounded perfect.
Q: What do you enjoy most about serving the Sedona community?
I was born and raised in Cottonwood. In the ’80s I would go to Sedona for family dinners, to visit with friends and to play in the creek, but I never spent much time in Sedona. Now, more than 20 years later, to be able to work directly with a community that I had only known from a distance has been a real pleasure.
Q: What are your daily or weekly responsibilities?
I have to be present and ready every day for everything and anything. I am responsible for every call that is made to the Sedona Police Department and 911. My responsibilities entail more than I could have ever imagined. I never knew that dispatchers answered all calls for a police department, emergent and non-emergent, while also dispatching radio calls from police officers, processing warrant and arrest paperwork and sending out safety alerts. My naivete was lifted my first day of training.
Q: What hobbies do you have away from work?
I enjoy hockey, paddle boarding, reading, sewing, gardening and spending time with my pugs, cat, boyfriend, parents and friends.
Q: What’s your all-time favorite movie?
I can’t name an all-time favorite. I love all movies from “Blast from the Past” to “The Last Samurai.” However, the movie I’ve seen the most times would be “Elf.”
