News of FDNY

Published: June 20, 2014 Get to Know: Kevin Jones, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Technology and Development Systems Kevin Jones Name: Kevin Jones Title/Rank: Deputy Director, Bureau of Technology and Development Systems Work Location: FDNY Headquarters Tenure with the Department: 27 years Job Description: Manages computer-aided dispatch systems. What’s your favorite part of your job? Working with people in the field. If I have a reason to go to a firehouse or EMS station, there’s no grumbling, I’m excited. I was able to go a firehouse recently, figure out a problem they had with a system they were using and get the issue resolved. It’s really incredible when you know you are working with people who may be the best in the world at what they do, and you can help them. That’s one heck of a feeling. What makes the FDNY different from anywhere else? You get to see the results of your efforts on the evening news. Most jobs don’t have that. Others might not know your work is a part of those stories, but you do. How has the Department changed you? I didn’t get hard work until after I got here. I could spend hours and hours and hours working on something, not because I have to, but because I want to. And that happened after I started at the FDNY. There’ve been times I worked through the night and turn the work into the Commissioner in the morning. Somehow I got this fire, and I’m glad I did. I wish I had it in college, but sometimes it takes an environment. You are working with people who save people for a living – you can help them, and suddenly work has a different meaning. Three words to describe living in New York? Adventure. Melting-pot. Energy. What is something you do in your spare time? I’m a sailboat captain. I work at the South Street Seaport, on a schooner. We have a volunteer program owned by South Street Seaport Museum. I have been doing it since 1985, when I got my Coast Guard license. We take people out on two or three hour trips on weekends in the summer to the Statue of Liberty or around Staten Island. It’s a lot of fun.