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Hidalgo Sheriff’s Office

Anthony Gonzalez

University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley

ENGL 1302

Dr. Marshall Saenz

March 27, 2022

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Introduction/Context
This project focuses on how the hidalgo sheriff’s office functions and how they are as a group.

Specifically, we will talk about hot the communications office work together to keep the community and

their sheriffs safe. My older sister has been working as a communications officer for four years and she

has gathered the experience to solidify herself as a key member of the office. She also has mentioned

time and time again that when they attempt to hire new members, they really do not make the effort to

stay for long term. Most people will think of dispatchers as people sitting in a dark room just answering

phone calls. The reality of being a dispatcher Is that it can build up a lot of stress in employees. So, I

think when the new people feel the stress of having lives on the line as well as sheriffs or maybe just

hearing tragic and emotional people all day can really take a toll on someone’s mental health. My

question in this project is what can we do to help veteran dispatchers and rookies stress relief or to calm

them? Mostly I ask this question because it really does interest me and my sister has had really hard

times at work to the point where it affects her personal life sometimes.

Literature review

Dispatchers are the first responders in law enforcement, when people call 911 This means

communications officers must answer to everyone, so they really do not know what to expect every day.

With this, scheduling is strict because you must be present as much as you can and have to work

holidays.
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Methods

I will conduct my research by visiting articles about the overall position and group of dispatchers. I will

interview communications officer Ana Luisa Gonzalez to further extend my knowledge on the position

and get a closer perspective on the job.

Significance

This in my opinion is very important especially at a time like this when we need as much people in law

enforcement as we can get. Ana Luisa Gonzalez can back up how the sheriffs office is severely

understaffed because most people cant handle the stress and workload of being a dispatcher.