A Jefferson City native has received a second prestigious award for her work in emergency communications.
Last week, Zim Schwartze, the 911 Emergency Communications director for Springfield-Greene County, was named International Director of the Year by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials.
Schwartze will be recognized during the opening general session at the 2016 APCO Annual Conference and Expo taking place in August in Orlando, Florida.
She was name 911 Director of the Year in Missouri in April. She grew up in Jefferson City with two brothers and one sister. They all attended Helias Catholic High School.
Schwartze joined Springfield-Greene County 911 Emergency Communications in 2013, after retiring as a captain from the Columbia Police Department. While in Columbia, she also served as the director of the Boone County Joint Communications 911 and Office of Emergency Management for several years.
Schwartze has a master's degree in public administration and a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, both from the University of Missouri in Columbia. She is a graduate of the School of Police Staff and Command through Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia.
She is an adjunct instructor at the Law Enforcement Training Institute located in Columbia as well as in the Northwestern University SPSC classes. Schwartze is a member of the three state 911 organizations and serves as the treasurer of the Missouri 911 Directors Association.
In addition, Schwartze is a past president of the Kansas-Western Missouri Chapter of the FBI National Academy Associates and a member of the University of Missouri Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs Advisory Board.
Schwartze has volunteered with Special Olympics-Missouri for nearly 25 years, serving on the Law Enforcement Torch Run Committee and chairing the State Summer Games held in Springfield each year.
Schwartze and her husband, Jay, have two children.