Local dispatcher gets 911 Heroes Award

SANTA CRUZ, CA — An emergency dispatcher at the Santa Cruz Regional 911 Center will receive an award Tuesday in San Diego for her quick and calm action during a shooting incident at Big 5 in Watsonville last summer.

Michele Stevison, 31, who has worked at the center near Santa Cruz’s DeLaveaga Park for three years, was chosen for the statewide 911 Heroes Award for quickly summoning police while keeping a store employee calm during the June 7 incident.

Stevison took a call from the store manager, who relayed that a man had come in with power tools and began cutting the locks off racks of display weapons. The man then loaded the gun and began firing, as the manager locked herself in a glass-sided office.

Stevison said she became concerned for the manager’s safety when the man fired a shot and tried to get into the office.

“After talking to her for about 30 seconds, I knew how scared she was and that I was the person she was relying on to get her help,” Stevison said in a statement from the 911 Center. “I felt a sense of helplessness, but within seconds of officers getting on scene I was able to tell her the ordeal was over and she was safe.”

Police shot and killed the gunman, 22-year-old Robin Miranda, after he refused to drop the weapon.

Miranda struggled with paranoia and possibly schizophrenia, his family said.

Stevison, a San Lorenzo Valley resident, She credited the calm manner of the manager and her training for the successful resolution of the call.

Stevison grew up in the Boston area and remembers watching “Rescue 911″ on TV with her mother and grandmother. She said she has always been interested in law enforcement. Stevison earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Salem State College and worked previously as a preschool teacher.

The 911 Heroes Awards are sponsored by AT&T, 911 for Kids, Public Education and the National Emergency Numbers Association.

Read the story here.

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