Preble County Sheriff’s Department, first shift dispatcher Sandy Lutz had just got on duty when the call came in.  She had a tough night and didn’t want to be at work.  A horrible cough had kept her up for most of the night and she would have called in sick if she hadn’t needed all the money that she could get her hands on.

            She had been working two jobs for a few months and they both been starting to get to her.  She barely has time to spend with her daughter, or go to the gym to work of the extra pounds for her pregnancy that stayed with her for two-years.

            She needed the extra money to move out of her parent’s house.  She loved the extra help with her daughter Ashley and things, but she felt like she needed to have her own place.  It had taken all her strength to put on her sheriff deputy uniform.  Ashley’s dad was a marine and was killed in action.

            “Preble County Sheriff’s department,” Sandy answered.  She had to cover her mouth piece to cough.

            There was a moment of silence.  Sandy, a twenty-four-old single mom, waited patiently before speaking again.  She was running her fingers through her red hair.  She didn’t want to upset whoever was on the other end.

            “Sheriff’s Department,” she said.

            “My son,” a woman’s voice said.  The woman seemed to be crying and confused.

            She has only worked a few years as a dispatcher for the Sheriff’s Department, but she learned the job quicker than most.  One of the most important things that a dispatcher could do is keep the caller calm.  There were a couple of reasons why this was one of the things they did while taking a call.