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Congratulations to Operator Tabitha Garcia, recipient of the City of Coral Gables “Operator of the 2nd Quarter Award,” for the months of April 2019 through June 2019.
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I would like to nominate Communications Training Operator Tabitha Garcia for Operator of the Quarter (April 2019-June 2019) for working the incident at Sagua Avenue & Ponce de Leon Blvd 4/16/2019 PD Case 19-2766.
CTO Garcia has been an operator for our city for the past 20 years and has exemplified what it takes to be a "first" First Responder. She has been a part of the Communications Training program for most of her career and I can speak from experience (since she was also my trainer early on in my career) that the knowledge, patience, and pure love of her job is beyond measure. She is one of the main reasons why I also decided to become a Trainer in the Communications center. She encourages others to do their best, she has a passion for teaching, and she has a great wealth of knowledge.
Although Operator Garcia has had a long and successful career in handling priorities, I'd like to take the time to acknowledge our most recent major incident. On April 16th, 2019 at around noon time we received a call at Sagua Avenue & Ponce de Leon Boulevard regarding 32 with a Weapon a male brandishing a weapon with very limited information provided by the caller (PD Case t 9-2766). During her dispatch, I overheard her requesting more information considering the offer safety issues at hand. Once CTO Garcia heard Officer Wheeler state that the subject had "shot himself in the chest", she voiced out to Supervisor Claudia Zaccheo "The subject just shot himself!"
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[Enter Brief History/Summary Here]She continued to handle the priority with great professionalism, keeping a calm and steady voice. She continuously held and maintained the air for Officer Wheeler who was on scene with the subject. Even when the officer said the subject was "still moving" and with a "weapon in his hand'', she kep...
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