East Texas dispatchers celebrated as ‘unseen first responders’

MARSHALL, Texas (KLTV) - Some call them the unseen first responders: 911 dispatchers. To celebrate their efforts in getting the right help to the right place, a Presidential Proclamation was signed by President Clinton in 1994 designating the second week in April as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. We talked with Marshall Police Department dispatchers to see what they do and ask why they do it.

Tia Shepard, David Calhoun, and Kora Rodgers are all Marshall PD dispatchers who have been interested in some branch of police work since their school days.

“I grew up in foster care. And when I was younger, I wanted to make a change and save as many kids as I could,” Shepard said.

“Been on patrol and then left and went into the oilfield and came back. So, I mean once you get it in your blood it’s something you want to come back to,” Calhoun said.

“I had a passion for helping people. And I basically just wanted to be someone’s reason,” Rodgers said.

“We also have to kind of be the voice of reason on the phone,” Shepard said.

“When you’re, you know, dealing with somebody that’s hysterical on the phone, a lot of times you just lower your voice, stay calm. And then they’ve got to calm down to listen to you and pay attention to what you’re asking,” Calhoun said.

“I cried once so far. But of course, I can’t show them that. After I took the call, I was emotional,” Rodgers said.

“To be able to dispatch, you’ve got to be able to definitely multitask. You’ve got to be able to handle stressful situations and be able to stay poised, you know, during emergencies,” Calhoun said.

“So, in 2019 Governor Abbott had declared 911 dispatchers were also first responders because we give out CPR instructions, guide them through different things. So, we are considered first responders as well,” Shepherd said.

Their goal is the same: to help. They calmly relay locations and prepare first responders with the information needed for the correct aid, medical criminal or accidental.

Tia Shepard has been a dispatcher for two years. David Calhoun for nineteen years, which is as long as Kora has been alive. She’s been a dispatcher for three weeks. They all say they can’t imagine doing anything else.

In a recent National Emergency Number Association survey they found, despite stress and burnout, 87 percent of dispatchers surveyed “love” or “like” their job. They also found 82 percent of Emergency Communications Centers are short staffed.