(Seguin) — The voices on the other end of a 911 call are rarely seen, but inside the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office, they are the steady pulse behind every emergency response.
That’s according to Guadalupe County Sheriff Joshua Ray who is marking National Telecommunicators Week (April 12-18) with a unique look behind the scenes.
Ray says the strength of the department starts with the people inside the dispatch center.
“We have a fantastic dispatch team, and we’ve hired so many in the last couple of years. And this crew that we have right now are just so cohesive. And we have a fantastic supervisor up there in Tracy Albrecht. She does a lot to encourage them and keep morale up there because it’s a hard job. They’re working 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Dispatch is covered for 365 days out of the year,’” said Ray.
He says it’s the dispatchers who are first to hear fear, confusion, and crisis in real time.
“When someone calls 911, they’re usually not calling 911 because it’s a good moment or it’s been a good day. And so, it can be very stressful when you take those calls over and over and over again. But every time I go up there, you know, they’ve got smiles on their face and they’re happy and morale is really good. They all work hard. I’ve gone in there when those phones are just going nonstop and they barely have time to even acknowledge that the sheriff just walked in the room. But they just do a great job. They’re super cohesive and I’m extremely proud of all of them,” said Ray.
Despite the intensity of the job, Ray says Guadalupe County is experiencing something that is very unique and uncommon in these types of high-stress professions and that is stability.
“I think one thing that’s very telling about the atmosphere we have up there in dispatch is that since February of last year, we have had one opening, one. So, it’s very low turnover right now. So that tells you, I think it tells you that they’re very happy with their job and their work environment and they all work really good together,” said Ray.
Ray says as Guadalupe County continues to grow, so does the volume of emergency calls coming in.
“In the previous 12 months, we’ve had almost 75,000 calls for service that sheriff’s deputies have responded to. Who do you think those 75,000 calls go through? It goes through our dispatch, right? And at any given time, on average, I mean, there’s a few days here and there that may not be the case, but generally on average, We have 3 dispatchers in that 911 center. And for that many calls, that’s a lot of calls going through three people. And then this year in 2026, we are averaging an additional 1,000 calls per month from previous years. So the development and the growth in Guadalupe County is having a direct impact on sheriff’s office operations,” said Ray.
Meanwhile, he says the growth isn’t stopping him from planning ahead.
“I’ve included some additional staffing requests. We’re putting together budget right now for FY27, and there are some more dispatch positions that are included in that. I’m hoping to eventually get up to at least where we can have 4 dispatchers on the floor per shift. And a few other things I want to do to develop them. I would like to see our 911 center become more a crime center and we develop those dispatchers not only as dispatchers, but as crime analysts and that they have more tools available to them so that they can assist the deputies and investigators better in their enforcement activities,” said Ray.
A reading of a proclamation in observance of Telecommunicators Week was recently held at the sheriff’s office. There, the dispatchers were applauded for a job well done.