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Rebekah Reilly, dispatcher at the Waco Police Department, gets ready to start her shift. Many dispatchers are working 50-hour weeks or more to cover a staff shortage.
A lifeline between the community and emergency help is thinning as the Waco Police Department struggles to fill more than 40% of its dispatch positions.
The department, which dispatches police, fire and emergency medical service calls from across the county, is seeking to hire 16 additional dispatchers to reach the allotted staffing of 40 positions, including four part-time positions.
In the meantime, 24 dispatchers are covering those dispatch duties, with life and death often at stake…
