Sheriff's 911 dispatchers trained to help when stress becomes too much
"We know what it's like" - Laura Moore, 17-year veteran

Jasper County sheriff's dispatcher Laura Moore is the one who took the call on Triston Dobbins, the 21-month-old child whose father is charged with capital murder and tampering with evidence.

She's a 17-year veteran, answering 911 calls for every kind of desperate situation.

"I wish people would realize we are their first resource for a lot of avenues (of help)," Moore said.

"We are trained to help. There's a lot of different agencies we can get to help them," Moore said, "and they need to understand that we're human beings, too. We have children, and we know what it's like to be stressed out. I have a one-year-old myself."

She said sometimes just having someone to talk to can help, and that CPS (Child Protective Services) is not out to take their children; they just want to help families deal with the situation before it escalates to where deputies are called.

"The holidays are always stressful. There's finances, families spending more time together, step-families who aren't used to dealing with children or more children in the house," Moore said.

"Next week, when kids are out of school, we'll get more calls," she predicted. "We have lots of ways we can get them the help they need to deal with holiday stress."

Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Joe Wilkinson said, "It's sage advice that when the baby or the kids get on your last nerve, call someone. If people would heed that advice, we'd could save a lot of grief."