They work in a locked and windowless room at UC Davis. And to most, they are faceless. But anywhere on the main campus or at the medical center in Sacramento, you depend on them. When a co-worker collapses with chest pain, when a chemistry experiment explodes into flames, or when a suspicious person loiters in the parking lot, their reassuring voices are at the other end of the line. "911. What is your emergency?" Each year, the 10 UC Davis public-safety dispatchers and their supervisor handle 56,000 calls-about one-third dialed as 911 emergencies in immediate need of police, fire or medical assistance. And when moments are measured by the failed beats of a heart or the encroaching footsteps of a prowler, their ability to quickly assess an emergency they cannot see and summon appropriate aid is vital to public safety at the university. "The help doesn't come except through dispatch," says Calvin Handy, chief of the UC Davis Police Department. "It is the emergency communications contact point for the entire university. It makes this operation critical in any kind of emergency. "And the dispatchers are the nexus, the link," he adds. "Their efficiency is key to how well we respond to and recover from any emergency." These dispatchers consistently help save lives on a campus the size and complexity of a small city-and even beyond. When a former student threatened suicide during a telephone conversation with a faculty member, dispatcher Maria Johnson welded the link that created a chain of help. Communication Resources was able to determine the call was long distance, but two phone companies had difficulties tracing its origin. With the assistance of the office manager who had called 911 and was exchanging notes with the faculty member, Johnson collected critical information, including the caller's name. By searching for a driver's license and cross-checking its address with the previous year's student directory and the caller's student record, she located the caller in San Jose and alerted police there. The caller was still on the phone when police arrived. And during the 30 or so minutes of that incident, Johnson managed 17 additional calls for service-from burglary alarms to disturbance calls. Johnson was presented with the police department's Distinguished Service Commendation and became the first UC employee other than an officer to receive such an award. All in a day's work for any dispatcher, says the 19-year veteran. "What the public and police sometimes forget is how much goes on in dispatch before a call even involves an officer," she says. Supervisor Leticia Garcia-Hernandez says a dispatcher's most important skills are an ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and to prioritize them. It's a challenge, she says, with usually only two or three dispatchers on duty at a university with a population of 40,000 or more students, employees, patients and visitors on any given day. Dispatchers must answer all incoming calls. They must respond to the requests from patrol officers and fire crews in the field-from checking for warrants against a driver to contacting an employee responsible for a building damaged in a late-night fire. And they must monitor the radio transmissions of patrol officers, fire crews and Facilities Services among others on campus and several public-safety agencies in the area. Within the sound-soaked communications center in the Fire and Police Building, they also monitor each other. For a sudden change in posture, hurried writing, a raised voice or the snapping of fingers. "We know when each other needs help," Garcia-Hernandez says. "It's kind of a sixth sense." One day in August, a computer mimicked the sound of a telephone and a large icon flashed on the dispatchers' computer screens. Tawny Wilson took a deep breath and, with it, her first life-threatening 911 call during her training period at UC Davis. Frantically, a man spoke in broken English. Wilson determined that a child had fallen from a second-story window in the Orchard Park residence complex. She dispatched a fire crew to the scene. Hearing her, Dan Lewis joined the 911 call. A 25-year veteran of UC Davis dispatch, he used his knowledge of Spanish to steady the caller and learn more about the accident. He transferred the call to the local ambulance service. Crucial information about the child's state of consciousness and breathing was relayed to emergency personnel en route. At the request of the fire crew, Wilson sent the Life Flight emergency helicopter service to transport the child to the medical center and relayed landing area information. Wilson, who grew up listening to scanners as the daughter of a bounty hunter and bail bondsman, has a background not atypical for a UC Davis dispatcher. A few are closely related to police personnel. Others had youthful aspirations of law enforcement-from being a beat officer to a member of the Secret Service. One has been a correctional officer. Yet another hopes his dispatch experience will help him get hired as a police officer. Collectively, they have 106 years' experience dispatching on campus. Entry-level applicants must pass a qualifying exam of the California Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission, a criminal background check, a psychological evaluation and, usually after being hired, successfully complete a three-week training academy. Those without previous dispatch experience are closely supervised for six months before they take a 911 call on their own. Recently, the state commission has required dispatchers to complete 24 hours of continuing education every two years in subjects ranging from managing officer shootings to liability issues. But UC Davis dispatchers are constantly sharing with each other their own tricks of the trade, like how to handle the 911 caller who is initially too upset to communicate the emergency. Those suggestions may include using the caller's first name, lowering the voice, asking questions with authority, continuing to probe for necessary detail and reassuring callers that help is already on the way. "We may come across as being cold," Garcia-Hernandez says, "but we need information to get help to people. We do that by calming them down and controlling the conversation." When dispatchers aren't handling emergencies or the many "411" calls-those asking for directions, access to a locked building or help finding a lost dog-they often update reference materials or work on special projects. The university is now negotiating a contract for a computer-aided dispatch system. It will not only spare dispatchers from manually recording the details of individual incidents and typing shift summaries; it will also track and recommend resources for particular emergencies, such as the nearest available officer. It could be in use as early as February. More immediate than that system's installation, is New Year's. And as the world braces for the Y2K bug that threatens to disrupt essential computer systems and services at everything from banks to utility providers, Wilson knows she will be one of four dispatchers on duty at the university. Is she looking forward to that shift? "Yes. I'm sure it will be stimulating," Wilson says. "I know the campus can rely on us to do our best, but just exactly what to expect with Y2K, I'm not sure." Overtime? "That I'm expecting."