DRPS Communications Excellence Award

Yesterday DRPS Communications/9-1-1 Inspector Gord O’Blenes presented the inaugural “David J. ‘Buzz’ Bezzant Memorial Award” to Communicator Laurie O’Connor in celebration of National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week.

This award was created to honour David James “Buzz” Bezzant who worked as a telecommunicator with Oshawa Ambulance until he joined the DRPS 9-1-1 Communications unit in 1981. Working as a telecommunicator at both emergency services, Buzz was known throughout the Region of Durham for his “calm and caring” voice.  Buzz served his community for more than 34 years, retiring from DRPS in 2015. Buzz passed away in 2022 following a brief illness.

The David J. ‘Buzz’ Bezzant Memorial Award will recognize communicators that demonstrate outstanding skills and will be presented annually during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. Recipients will be selected by the DRPS Communications 9-1-1 Peer Recognition Committee.

This year’s Communications Excellence Award recipient is Laurie O’Connor, who demonstrated extreme skill and professionalism while dispatching an armed person call. She handled the incident with great calmness and is commended for her ability to multi-task with ease, remain focused and stay on top of a great deal of critical information in a high-stress environment.

Congratulations Laurie, and a special thank you goes out to the Bezzant family for attending the inaugural presentation.