Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk named UW-Madison graduate John Dejung the new director of the Dane County Public Safety Communications Center Thursday.
Dejung worked the past 12 years as 911/311 director for the city of Minneapolis. He has also overseen millions of dollars in technical upgrades to the Minneapolis 911 Center, including the 2006-'07 replacement of the center's computer-aided dispatch system.
Dejung has served as the president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Emergency Number Association, chair of the Minnesota Metropolitan 911 Board Technical Operations Committee and two-year chair of a 911 national industry group called the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials.
In 2008, the Minneapolis 911 Center was awarded the 911 Call Center of the Year by the 911 Institute for its handling and emergency response coordination of the Minneapolis I-35 bridge collapse in 2007, according to a press release.
Falk, who is running for reelection, said Dejung's extensive experience overseeing 911 technical upgrades and working with public safety agencies and oversight groups make him the ""perfect"" candidate for the position, which will be responsible for important changes to the center.
""[Dejung] has the right experience, the right credentials, and a can-do attitude that will serve our center well,"" Falk said in a statement. ""Our highly trained team of 911 Center professionals handles over 640,000 calls a year. From teaching CCR (cardio-cerebral resuscitation) over the phone to friends and family of heart attack victims to helping nervous fathers deliver very premature babies in cars along the side of the road on bitter cold mornings, our dispatchers are true first responders.""
Nancy Mistele, Falk's opponent in the upcoming election, has focused a majority of her campaign on the 911 Center's mistake with the death of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann last April.
According to a statement made by Mistele, Falk appointed Dejung director of the Dane County Public Safety Communications Center for the benefit of her political career.
""It appears this director is much more experienced than Kathleen Falk's last choice, and I look forward to working with the new director to address the serious problems still existing at the 911 Center,"" Mistele said in a press release.
Dejung will officially begin as Dane County Public Safety Communications Director on June 1.
