After four decades as a calming voice that Chicagoans turn to at their worst moments, police dispatcher Debra White has reached the end of her watch.
White, 65, met citizens in crisis over the phone, coaxing vital information in a soothing manner, making sure to get accurate information to convey via radio to police officers and keeping them out of harm’s way.
On Monday, White was celebrated at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, 1411 W. Madison, in a ceremony that honored her and about a dozen other dispatchers who retired.
Food and cake were served, and certificates of appreciation were handed out, but White was the focus, eliciting hugs and well wishes from colleagues who described her as a motherly figure with a soothing presence.
“I call her ‘Momma Deb’ because she’s like the mama of OEMC,” said Chenetra Washington, deputy director of the city’s 911 center, who presented White with a certificate and a plaque honoring her service.
White began working for the city in 1985 as a teletype operator at the old police headquarters at 11th and State, sharing information within the Chicago Police Department about missing persons and wanted suspects. Five years later, she became a call-taker answering 911 calls, and then in 1994, a dispatcher.
“When you’re a call-taker, you answer incoming 911 calls. When you’re a dispatcher, you take calls and dispatch police units,” she said.
Over the four decades, White said new tech like GPS has made responses faster, but others like the boom in cellphones added significantly to the volume of calls.
Bill Sonntag, who has worked at White’s side for 19 of his 30 years as a dispatcher, said her unique ability to empathize with citizens in distress was her main asset.
“She’s very thorough and feels for the citizens,” Sonntag said. “She would take articles from the newspaper and match them up to calls we took, helping us to feel empathy for the people.”
White said that when she’s overwhelmed or overcome by the calls she’s taken, she steps away from her desk.
“The key is to have a high spirit, to always love people,” she said. “You get emotional, but if you get too emotional, you have to take five minutes and then go back in again. You can’t take anything personal.”
Sometimes, the personal and professional intersect, as it did in 2013 when her 33-year-old son, Dantario, was shot to death. While she didn’t take that call, she said the tragedy almost made her quit.
“When the call came in, I had just gotten off work,” she told the Sun-Times. “I actually wanted to resign, but my co-workers, who I consider family, carried me like angels. I took some time off but then needed to come back.”
White stayed on the job 12 more years.
Her other work nicknames, Digital Deb or Digital D, were given for the photos she took of every person and every event at OEMC since its founding in 1995.
“She had every photo. I don’t know what we’re going to do without someone doing that,” Sonntag said.
White often made photo books for retiring OEMC colleagues and has 250,000 images on her phone and thousands on film.
Colleagues say her maternal instincts apply to visitors as well as colleagues.
“She takes notice of everyone who comes on the floor and spends time with them even though that’s not a fundamental aspect of her job,” said Mariann McKeever, assistant director of the 911 center.
Minka Giles, who has worked as a dispatcher next to White for the last four years, echoed McKeever.
“She’s everything to everybody. She’s a great historian, she’s a great person. The officers respect her, she takes care of them and makes sure they’re safe.”
White has also been known to sing “Happy Birthday” to officers over the police radio if she knows they are working.
On Monday, after White and the other retiring dispatchers and call-takers were honored, police and fire vehicles, along with Chicago police units on horseback, held a procession on Madison Street in front of OEMC headquarters. White, with her two great-grandchildren at her side, held a bouquet of flowers given to her by a colleague and broke down in tears.
Rogers Park District (24th) Commander Alison Christian led three units from her district to OEMC to pay tribute to White, and she and her officers stopped and got out to honor White.
Christian hugged White and shared happy tears. Christian said she’s known White for 20 years and said her fellow officers were in good hands when she was on the job.
“She’s as good as it gets,” Christian said.
White said she was overwhelmed with the tributes and added that not seeing her colleagues every day will be the hardest part of retiring. She said that it hasn’t sunk in yet that she won’t be returning to work after taking an upcoming vacation.
But she’s grateful for having been able to serve the city she loves for so long.
“I think I’ll put my phone on mute for a while.”
