METHUEN — Mayor Neil Perry and Chief Scott J. McNamara are pleased to announce that two new dispatchers graduated from the State 911 Department Public Safety Communications Academy and joined the Methuen Police Department.
Yenifer Cabreja and Larissa Alves both started in new roles with the Methuen Police Department this month after graduating from the academy run by the State 911 Department. Both dispatchers speak multiple languages.
Dispatcher Alves speaks Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish and English fluently. She is a mother and wife who formerly worked as a front desk coordinator at a dental office in Everett.
“I have been a stay-at-home mother since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, but I recently moved to Methuen and I’m excited to give back to this great community and help any way that I can,” Dispatcher Alves said. “The Methuen Police Department is a great team and I am proud to be a part of it.”
Dispatcher Cabreja speaks both Spanish and English fluently. She sought to join Methuen Police because she believes there is nothing more rewarding than when a person can be there for someone else when needed most.
“As a native Spanish speaker, being able to go an extra step to help those with a language barrier has been the most rewarding experience for me,” Dispatcher Cabreja said. “As a 911 dispatcher with the Methuen Police Department, I will be able to help those in need and keep doing what I love, which is helping my community.”
Both dispatchers completed the five-week, 200-hour Public Safety Communications Academy, with an emphasis on — among other things — law enforcement dispatching, radio communications, next-generation 911 equipment training, the National Incident Management System and Incident Command System, communication with the deaf and hard of hearing, fire service dispatch and active shooter response.
“Methuen is a diverse community so I am pleased the Methuen Police Department will now have two more multilingual dispatchers who will reflect our overall community as they take emergency and non-emergency calls from the public,” said Chief McNamara. “Effective law enforcement requires effective communications, and that all begins in the dispatch center.”
Both dispatchers also received training during the academy in ethics, suicide intervention, domestic violence, health and wellness for dispatchers, and testifying in court.
“Both of these women will be an asset to our community, and their natural abilities combined with the skills they developed at the academy make them well-prepared to serve all of our city’s residents in their time of need,” Mayor Perry said.
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