Deschutes County appoints Crosswhite 9-1-1 director

Deschutes County has appointed Sara Crosswhite as the county’s 9-1-1 director.

Crosswhite has been serving as interim director of Deschutes 9-1-1 since April 2018. She began her career as a Deschutes 9-1-1 dispatcher and, over the past 20 years, has risen through the ranks of the agency.

“Sara has the support of our local public safety leaders and the support of Deschutes County’s commissioners,” said County Administrator Tom Anderson. “She knows the agency inside and out and is the right person to have at the helm as Deschutes County 9-1-1 moves into the future.”

Deschutes County Sheriff L. Shane Nelson said that “Sara truly believes in customer service and the organizations that 9-1-1 serves.”

The 9-1-1 Service District is the only public safety dispatch center in the County and takes all calls for police, fire and medical service assistance. In the past year, dispatchers answered close to 67,000 9-1-1 calls and more than 168,000 non-emergency calls.

Deschutes 9-1-1 staff dispatch for 14 police and fire/emergency medical services (EMS) agencies and work closely with the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, emergency air ambulance services, Oregon State Police and other state and federal agencies.

As 9-1-1 director, Crosswhite will oversee the agency’s 55 full-time employees and work collaboratively with the district’s user board, which includes representatives from each public safety agency served by the Ddstrict.