Printer
TextDirector of Department of Public Safety Communications
Fairfax County Office of Public Affairs
12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 551
Fairfax, VA 22035-0065
703-324-3187, TTY 711, FAX 703-324-2010
Oct. 17, 2005
Souder Appointed as Director of
Department of Public Safety Communications
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors today appointed Stephen H. Souder as the director of the Fairfax County Department of Public Safety Communications. Selected after a nationwide search, Souder will begin his duties on Nov. 2.
A nationally recognized leader in the field of 9-1-1 and public safety communications, Souder has served as director of the Montgomery County, Md. Department of Police, 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Center – one of the 50 largest such centers in the country – since November 2001. Previously, he was administrator of the Arlington County, Va. 9-1-1 Public Safety-Emergency Communications Center for over 16 years, including leading that agency during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the Pentagon.
A former member of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve and the District of Columbia Fire Department, Souder was involved in placing into operation the first Computer Aided Dispatch system in the United States, and the second 9-1-1 system to serve a major city in the United States during his tenure in Washington.
Active in the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International, Souder was awarded life member status in APCO in 2000. He currently serves as chair of APCO’s Project RETAINS, which addresses the staffing and retention of personnel in 9-1-1 public safety communication centers. He also is active in the National Emergency Number (9-1-1) Association, the 9-1-1 Institute of the Congressional Caucus and represents the National Capital Region Council of Government’s Police Chiefs on the NCR Executive Interoperability Committee. In 2004, Souder also was recognized as the 9-1-1 Public Safety Communications Center Director of the Year for the state of Maryland.
Souder’s salary will be $118,000 a year.
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