Whenever a Spanish speaker calls 911 in cities and communities served by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, there's a chance he or she will be speaking to Sofia Baez, who is bilingual.

The Sheriff's department has seven Spanish-speakers among its 100 dispatchers who field emergency phone calls.

Spanish-speaking callers are no different than English-speakers when it comes to an emergency. They may have been involved in a shooting, stabbing, threatening to hurt themselves or others. They may be barricading themselves.

The difference when it comes to Spanish-speakers, Baez said, is that they "often don't think we have translators available."

"They don't know how to ask for services. They try to speak in English and revert back to Spanish," she said.

This hesitancy leads her to think that there's a "wall out there" that may be keeping more Spanish-speakers from calling 911, she said.

Dispatchers are trained to immediately transfer a Spanish-speaker to a bilingual dispatcher, such as Baez. "There's one or two per shift who speak Spanish," Baez said.

Two other dispatchers speak Arabic. The county uses a translator service for other languages.

She works out of the Sheriff's Communications Center in Kearny Mesa, where the news media were given a rare peek at the dispatching center in action on Tuesday as part of National Public Safety Telecommunications Week.

The center operates around-the-clock, year-round and handled 234,000 emergency calls last year from people who live in Imperial Beach, Lemon Grove, Santee, Poway, Vista, San Marcos, Solana Beach, Del Mar, Encinitas and unincorporated communities such as Spring Valley, Bonita, Fallbrook, Campo and Borrego Springs.

San Diego, Chula Vista and other city police departments have their own dispatchers.

Baez says she handles up to 100 calls a day and that one out of four is from a Spanish-speaker.

She is limited in what she can do in some cases.

She is not authorized to provide medical aid over the phone. Instead she transfers a call that requires aid to a fire department and helps with translation.

She also cannot dispatch federal agents to handle an immigration matter because she works for the county. She will dispatch sheriff's deputies to the scene if safety is an issue, however.

Dispatchers are often in demand, she said. Pay ranges from $18 to $29 an hour and involves working different schedules and on weekends.

Baez originally wanted to be a police officer but is glad she chose to become a dispatcher.

"At the end of the day I take satisfaction that I am able to help people," she said. It means something to her when she receives a note from someone thanking her "for helping to save my life or escape a predator."

Leonel.sanchez@sandieogred.com