Service Spotlight: Communications Recruiting Supervisor Andrea Lewis

Service Spotlight:

Communications Recruiting Supervisor Andrea Lewis

Andrea Lewis got her first look at city government early in life. That’s what happens when you’re the daughter of a small-town Texas mayor.

Lewis, who now serves as the communications recruiting supervisor for the Norman Police Department, grew up in Aledo, just west of Ft. Worth. She graduated in a class of seven students from a private Christian school and the headed to Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford.

“My dad was the mayor from the time I was in first grade until I was a sophomore in high school, so kind of got to watch the inner workings of local governments, whether I wanted to or not,” she recalled with a laugh. “I didn’t really enjoy going to city council meetings, but I liked going and checking water levels and things like that with Dad.”

Lewis earned her degree in business management from SWOSU and worked in higher education for about seven years, including stints in recruitment and student services.

“I really enjoyed working people or helping students find the best path for them degree-wise,” Lewis said.

After having her position outsourced to a private company and eventually phased out, Lewis decided she still didn’t really know what she wanted to do when she “grew up.”

A friend who was a Norman police officer suggested applying for the department and Lewis felt there was a lot about being an officer she would enjoy, but some aspects that wouldn’t feel natural. She mentioned pursuing something in administrations. That’s when the two started talking about dispatching. Lewis contacted the department’s communications manager and went and looked at what dispatch looked like.

“I went and sat down and saw all the screens and all the moving pieces and got really excited,” Lewis said.

She joined the department in 2016 and was promoted to communications officer II a year later. Lewis then moved into a new role in the department as an comms officer III and began assisting with supervision on days off for full-time supervisors. Six months later, a supervisory position opened, and Lewis was hired to fill that role. With the promotion and a deep dive into emergency management, Lewis has begun working on her master’s degree in public administration through Tarleton State University.

“I’ve just kept trying to do the best I could and learn as much as I can,” she explained. “I’ve grown to be more and more interested in all the facets of management and emergency management.”

The police communications center fields a wide array of emergency and non-emergency calls for police, fire and ambulance services as well as animal welfare and parking. After hours calls are also routed through the comms center.

Lewis is also applying her background in higher education recruitment as the recruiting supervisor for the department. She attends jobs fair, visits schools and coordinates publications aimed as educating potential communications candidates about the job environment and openings.

Her key message? Dispatching stretches far beyond just fielding phone calls.

“There’s more to what the job entails,” Lewis said. “It keeps growing with technology. You have to learn a ton of new systems. It’s becoming more of a career than a job. It’s not just answering the phone anymore. You got to teach people how to use technology, and those all play a role in applicant pool and expectations.”

When she’s not working, Lewis, who loves traveling, said it’s important to get away from the stress of the communications center.

“There’s a phrase used in dispatch and that’s ‘your worst day is our workday,’” Lewis explained. “There is an acclamation to some of those things we deal with. It’s really important to disconnect and decompress and do normal things and connect with people, just be reminded there are good things happening and you have to enjoy that part of life.”