VALDOSTA – Longtime Lowndes County 911 Center Director Danny Weeks is hanging up his dispatch line as he transitions into retirement.

Staff members across Lowndes County and the City of Valdosta as well as community supporters gathered in the Lowndes County Judicial Complex Wednesday evening, Oct. 11, to celebrate Weeks’ 38 years of service and accomplishments. He was accompanied by his wife Susan Weeks.

“I’ve enjoyed it and we’ve been so blessed,” Weeks said in an interview. “Just knowing that what we, as an organization, have been able to do to improve the community and the service that we have provided and will continue to provide, that I take a lot of pride in.”

In 1985, Weeks became a dispatcher with the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office. He was later named the systems manager for 12 years of his career.

Technology is forever changing, and Weeks had his fair share of adapting to quite a variety of technology improvements. As the systems manager, he introduced the first computer aided dispatch system.

“It was challenging at times. When we started out, basically we had a telephone and a radio in front of us. Then we started having computers and gained access to the Criminal justice networks. The biggest change is the training,” Weeks said.

Now, each employee is trained and state certified as a communications officer and they have to complete several more certifications to maintain their position. He said the service they provide now to the community is phenomenal.

The center processes approximately 650 calls-for-service each day and is capable of routinely surging over 700 calls-for-service in any 24-hour period.

Lowndes County 911 was awarded Communications Accreditation by The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) in July 2003 and was the second communications center in Georgia to achieve this status. The agency has maintained this award since that time.

Weeks then served as the interim director when the previous director retired in 2006 and was fully promoted to the director of Lowndes County 911 Center in 2006. He ended his career with a bang as he led the 911 center team through Hurricane Idalia, which hit Lowndes County hard the last week of August.

When asked what’s a prominent factor of managing a 911 center that most community members might not know, Weeks explained, “Teaching people when it’s appropriate to call 911. I get asked a lot of times what percentage of calls do you receive that are actual emergency calls. I say 100% of them to the person that’s making the call.”

In cases where emergency services were not needed, Weeks and his team often referred callers to the necessary resources.

Tonya Davis, who has worked with Weeks for 23 years and will be directing the Lowndes County 911 center, said she will use the skills he enforced to lead the team of about 40 staff members.

“We were in great hands. He’s always been fair and has built good working relationships with the agencies that we dispatch through. Everything he has done has set us up for success and helped make the transition easy,” Davis said.

She said she hopes to continue the excellent work that has already been established under Weeks’ management and continue the legacy that’s been set from the other directors presiding over herself.

One lesson Davis explained she will carry throughout her career from Weeks is, “We serve so many agencies and municipalities in our community. His long standing rule of thumb was that we don’t do for one agency what we can’t do for the other agencies. That’s probably the biggest lesson and something I will definitely continue.”

County Manager Paige Dukes said, “Danny has been a phenomenal leader not for just Lowndes County but for the entire community for decades. He is the embodiment of leave it better than you found it and the quality of service that 911 provides will continue at a very high standard for years to come as a result of his leadership.”