Torres secures furlough exemption for dispatchers

Beginning Tuesday California Highway Patrol 911 dispatchers will be exempted from the state employee furlough requirements, Assemblywoman Norma Torres, D-Ontario, announced this week.

Torres has sought the exemption since January when the furloughs were first announced, her office said in a statement.

Torres said in the statement that it is the personnel of the 911 system that crime victims or those experiencing an emergency come into contact with first in a difficult situation.

Furloughing dispatchers "never made sense," Torres said in the statement.

"I have had months of discussion with officials in the Highway Patrol and the administration. I am happy that the people of California can count on improved emergency response and a greater degree of safety when there is an emergency," Torres said.

Torres' efforts drew praise from the president of the labor group representing CHP dispatchers and said Torres' efforts will benefit the 911 system.

"We will now be able to improve the performance of the 911 system," said Tina Brazil, president of the California Highway Patrol Public Safety Dispatchers Association, in a statement.

Prior to her election to the Assembly, Torres worked as a 911 dispatcher for the Los Angeles Police Department and has gone on leave from her job while serving in her elected post.