Gov. Beshear: Kentucky State Police Welcomes 22 New Telecommunicators
A new class of KSP Telecommunicators is ready to answer the calls of Kentuckians
FRANKFORT, Ky. (April 10, 2026) – Today, Gov. Andy Beshear and the Kentucky State Police (KSP) announced the graduation of 22 telecommunicators from the KSP Telecommunications Academy. These newly trained professionals will begin their assignments at KSP Posts across the commonwealth, serving as the crucial link between Kentuckians and law enforcement during times of need.
“This is a noble career each of you have chosen, which will allow you to help your neighbors during their most difficult times,” Gov. Beshear said. “Your work to provide assistance to Kentuckians and first responders will ensure our communities are safer and our people feel supported. My family and I – and all of Kentucky – pray that all of you have safe, fulfilling careers.”
KSP telecommunicators play an essential role in coordinating emergency response efforts, providing dispatch services for local law enforcement agencies, including KSP troopers and commercial vehicle enforcement officers, conservation officers and other public safety partners. In 2025, KSP telecommunicators answered nearly one million telephone calls, resulting in more than 532,600 requests for assistance.
“Behind every emergency response is a telecommunicator working with precision and professionalism,” KSP Commissioner Phillip Burnett Jr. said. “These graduates are stepping into a role that requires focus, compassion and quick decision-making. We are proud to welcome them to our team and look forward to the impact they will have across Kentucky.”
Graduates of Class 26 completed 160 hours of instruction over four weeks, covering essential topics such as legal liability, telecommunicator authority limits, their role in public safety, interpersonal communications, customer service, stress management and PTSD, ethics and confidentiality, responder safety, basic fire dispatch, emergency operation plans, criminal justice information systems, first aid and emergency medical dispatch.
Throughout their training, the graduates were required to successfully process scripted emergency calls, demonstrate their ability to gather and relay critical information, dispatch first responders efficiently, and provide emergency medical dispatch instructions when necessary. The academy concluded with a simulation designed to replicate real-life dispatch scenarios.
Class 26 graduates and their assigned posts are:
- Carson Allen – Post 9, Pikeville
- Julianna Anderson – Post 8, Morehead
- Courtney Brock – Post 7, Richmond
- Kassidy Brown – Post 3, Bowling Green
- Dannielle Clark – Post 3, Bowling Green
- Robert Coots – Post 10, Harlan
- Tierra Eifert – Post 6, Dry Ridge
- Keshia Evans – Post 14, Ashland
- Andrew Hall – Post 12, Frankfort
- Paiton Hale – Post 8, Morehead
- Emily Isom – Post 12, Frankfort
- Gabrielle James – Post 13, Hazard
- Connor Maupin – Post 7, Richmond
- Shelby Moore – Post 4, Elizabethtown
- Ireland Mulcahy – Post 6, Dry Ridge
- Riley Mullins – Post 13, Hazard
- Ava Puckett – Post 1, Mayfield
- Tyson Smith – Post 9, Pikeville
- Amanda Stott – Post 16, Henderson
- Francis Tegethoff – Post 5, Campbellsburg
- Addison Walker – Post 4, Elizabethtown
- Christian Wagers – Post 11, London
The Charlotte Tanner Valedictorian Award recognizes the graduate who achieves the highest academic performance while demonstrating exceptional commitment throughout the academy. Named in honor of Charlotte Tanner, who dedicated more than five decades to KSP as a telecommunicator, supervisor and instructor, the award reflects excellence in both knowledge and service.
This year’s Charlotte Tanner Valedictorian Award has been awarded to Francis Tegethoff from Post 5 with a grade point average of 100%.
“Each of these individuals demonstrated outstanding dedication and professionalism and I have no doubt they will go on to become exceptional telecommunicators,” KSP Law Enforcement Training Instructor I Dacia Wood said. “I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have served as their instructor and look forward to seeing all they will accomplish within the agency and in the communities they serve.”
The mission of KSP is to promote public safety through service, integrity and professionalism using partnerships to prevent, reduce and deter crime and the fear of crime, enhance highway safety through education and enforcement, safeguard property and protect individual rights.
The agency is continuing to recruit interested individuals to join Team Kentucky and provide critical assistance and assurance to their neighbors and loved ones. To apply for a telecommunicator position with KSP, click here or contact the KSP post nearest you for more information.
The Beshear-Coleman administration’s top priority is the safety of all Kentuckians. The Governor’s public safety actions are creating safer communities and a better Kentucky.
Protecting the commonwealth’s schools are a top priority of Team Kentucky. In August, the Governor announced that 1,315 Kentucky public schools are following statutory safety requirements required by the School Safety and Resiliency Act and that the number of school resource officers protecting schools has increased more than 100% since he took office.
Since Gov. Beshear took office, fewer Kentuckians have returned to prison after their release. For two years in a row, recidivism rates in the commonwealth have decreased, meaning that nearly 70% of those released from state custody have not returned.
In December, the Governor joined the Kentucky State Police and first responders in Mayfield to bring local agencies onto the new Kentucky State Police radio system. The funding requested by the administration to the General Assembly is necessary to complete the radio system project statewide to ensure Kentuckians in every part of the commonwealth can receive first responder services with no gaps in radio coverage.
The 2024 Crime in Kentucky report, released in June 2025, shows that, from 2023 to 2024, reports of serious crime decreased by 7.66%.
Last September, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman joined KSP to break ground on a new, state-of-the-art Drivers’ Skills Pad at the agency’s training academy in Frankfort. The $2.7 million project will provide troopers, officers and cadets with a facility dedicated to safely practice and refine advanced driving techniques.
In April of last year, Gov. Beshear was joined by members of the Cash family, the Kentucky law enforcement community and the Department of Criminal Justice Training to officially open the doors to the new law enforcement training facility named in honor of Jody Cash, who lost his life in the line of duty. The facility is a 42,794-square-foot facility with a 50-yard, 30-lane firing range designed for officers to learn intensive and specialized training that will support training all of Kentucky’s law enforcement agencies.
At the beginning of his second term, the Governor proposed a $500 increase to the law enforcement annual training stipend, but the General Assembly chose to provide a combined $262 increase over the next two years. The budget signed by the Governor raises the training stipend to an all-time high of $4,562 by fiscal year 2026. Additionally, the Governor is providing part-time law enforcement officers with an annual training stipend for the first time in the history of the commonwealth.
As the Governor recommended in January 2022, $12.2 million was included in the state budget for KSP to purchase body cameras, which is the first time in the commonwealth’s history that funding has been allocated for this much-needed expense.
For more information about KSP’s commitment to creating a better Kentucky by making the commonwealth’s streets safer, communities stronger and the nation more secure by providing exceptional law enforcement, click here.
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Editor’s Note: photo identification (left to right, back row to front row) Gabrielle James, Keshia Evans, Robert Coots, Andrew Hall, Carson Allen, Tyson Smith, Christian Wagers, Dannielle Clark, Addison Walker, Kassidy Brown, Ireland Mulcahy, Ava Puckett, Shelby Moore, Julianna Anderson, Tierra Eifert, Courtney Brock, Paiton Hale, Connor Maupin, Emily Isom and Amanda Stott
