Crimewatch: San Marcos Dispatchers

The call load for San Marcos dispatchers has exploded as the population grows, but budget contraints prevent hiring much needed help. The dispatchers describe how the communications room at the San Marcos Police Department is busier than ever

Mary Rodemyer has been a dispatcher for 11 years. She has taken all sorts of calls. She shares a few:

"I swear I just saw a German mig fly over my dorm room."

"I've had calls where all you can hear is screaming, horrible screams," said Rodemyer.
In one 911 call, Rodemyer walks a mother through baby cpr. Something the mother initially couldn't do to her 9-month-old daughter.

"Rodemyer: 911 what's your emergency?"
"Caller: My daughter fell in the bathtub and she's not breathing."
"Rodemyer: She's not breathing?"
"Caller: She's not breathing! Everything on her is blue!"
"Rodemyer: Lay her flat on her back, no pillow, kneel next to her."
"Rodemyer: Look in her mouth and make sure there's no food or vomit. Is there anything in her mouth?"
"Caller: I can't do this."
"Rodemyer: Yes you can."
"Caller: I can't do this!"
"Rodemyer: I'm going to tell you how to do mouth to mouth. Keep her head tilted back. Pinch the nose close and completely cover her mouth with your mouth. Give two soft breaths."
"Caller: That's her making the noise."
"Rodemyer: That's her making noise? Turn her on her side."
"Caller: She just spit up all this water.
"Rodemyer: Ok, that's fine.
"Rodemyer: You did a good job."

Rodemyer has also talked someone through baby cpr and it didn't work. As you can imagine, the bad calls linger.
 "When somebody dies when they don't have to die or someone commits suicide. Those are really hard because it's really sad to think that person felt so alone that they thought that was the only thing they could do, " said Rodmyer.

For Cate Hedrick, it gets so busy at times that she doesn't have time to use the restroom.

"I've actually gone a whole shift 10 hours without using the restroom. We develop something what's called dispatch bladder. Ha, ha and basically you learn to hold it out of necessity," said Hedrick.

Here's a look at the call load the past few years.  In 2005, the total number of calls dispatchers took was 65,170.
That jumped to 76,802 in 2008. And so far this year, there have been 69,328 calls. Part of the reason, the population in san marcos has increased. But the number of dispatchers has not, it has stayed the same for the past two years.

San Marcos Assistant Police Chief, Warren Zerr, asked for more dispatchers but was denied.
"We're in the mix like all the other city employees so they have to divvy up the funds where the funds need to go and we weren't one of them."

Another reason these dispatchers are so busy, they take emergency calls for police, fire, and EMS.
Zerr says ideally, they would be just like Austin.

"There's so much redundancy in Hays County between San Marcos police, the Hays County Sheriff's Dept, the Kyle Police, the Texas State Police all having their own dispatch centers."

Besides taking calls from the public, dispatchers also take calls from police officers.

"It's always the safety first and you have to prioritize," said Rodmyer.

Dispatchers have their hands full on weekends and when Texas State University is in session.
Dispatcher Jenny Bland.

"Kids like to party. A lot of what we handle is just those party calls, trying to maintain a quiet neighborhood."
"A lot of it is loud music, screaming and yelling on balconies."

Regardless of the type of call, dispatchers will send officers, as long as officers are requested. Assistant Chief Zerr says they will make do with the 17 total dispatchers and three supervisors, until the next budget cycle.

Follow Jenni on Twitter jennileefox7.