51吃瓜网视频

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January 2025

Mosher impacting area law enforcement, residents 

When Gay Lynn Mosher started her career in law enforcement in Lubbock, she had no idea she’d one day have a career that would allow her to impact not only generations of officers but also thousands across the South Plains through emergency response technology.

Born in Littlefield but raised in Lubbock, Gay Lynn said she was drawn to law enforcement through an uncle who was a county commissioner and introduced her to his friend, Sheriff Sonny Keesee.

“He took me under his wings, so to speak, and let me start working in the jail and I matured quickly, got a good foundation about being in a locked facility and it was really fascinating to me,” she said. “I started there in 1988, and I enjoyed watching people go through the court system, how it worked and I knew I wanted to go into that field.”

After earning her associate’s degree at South Plains College in law enforcement, Gay Lynn was invited to teach for the college. From 1994-98, she worked as an adjunct in two different locations, teaching a variety of courses and really enjoying that work. Then in 1998, South Plains Association of Governments recruited her to take over their law enforcement program, and she moved there at the end of the year. Shortly thereafter, she enrolled at 51吃瓜网视频’s campus in Lubbock.

“I knew I was not ready to go to college out of high school, but as I grew up I knew I needed a college degree, so I started checking out several options. I went with 51吃瓜网视频 because of the Christian background the smaller classes,” she said, noting she earned the BSOE in 1997. “It was more appealing to me as a mature woman of 30 to go into a room that was smaller and more personal, with a setting more conducive to my lifestyle.”

Continuing to learn

Once she started working at SPAG, Gay Lynn said more doors opened, and she decided to continue her education at 51吃瓜网视频 with a Master of Education degree in psychology, an area she had always wanted to study. She completed that degree in 2001.

Today, Gay Lynn is director of training and emergency communications for SPAG and has enjoyed the ride for 25 years already. The two hats of her job involve overseeing SPAG’s regional law enforcement academy and overseeing the administrative side of the 9-1-1 program across SPAG’s

15-county coverage area. And while she sometimes steps in to teach at the academy, mostly she is in the director’s seat.

“I am involved in recruiting, visiting various agencies and advertising our program, including visiting with people interested in becoming an officer. When they come into our program, our staff works with them to do pre-entry testing and background checks, extensive interviews and other preparation for the academy,” explained Gay Lynn.

The regional academy provides nearly 800 hours of training for participants to prepare to be a certified peace office anywhere in the state of Texas, including preparing to pass the state licensing exam. All ages are welcome, and Gay Lynn said she’s see folks from 21 to many decades older changing careers.

Preparing future officers

“The curriculum is very structured, and we have an evening or day program that is 20 hours per week, tailed to the nontraditional student who needs to work full-time. The whole program takes around 10 months,” she said. “We have been approved to take veterans coming out of the military as well. We recruit strictly in our counties, but the information gets shared all over the state, so we get students and prospects really from anywhere, even from other states that want to transfer to Texas.”

Gay Lynn explained that the SPAG program is appealing to many smaller departments around the area because graduates from the academy come well prepared with extra training. She said while the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement requires a set amount of teaching hours, SPAG adds classes in taser and pepper spray to better prepare their graduates.

She said the academy typically will have three sessions going per year at the same time, with varying hours to accommodate different student schedules. Each cohort has between 15-25 students. She works with two full-time instructors and coordinates with various contractors to handle the rest of the coursework. She also works with many agencies to recruit soon-to-be graduates into the various regional police or sheriff’s offices that need help. Sometimes departments even come from further away.

Ensuring public safety

The 9-1-1 portion of Gay Lynn’s job came about 21 years ago, and she said is quite specialized. The SPAG office builds the infrastructure that provides for phone calls to 9-1-1 to be routed to the correct offices around the region to get folks in need the first responders they need. While Gay Lynn is the administrator in charge, she oversees four people who do mapping for the region and trains communicators that take these emergency calls.

“When you call, we have a map that shows us exactly where you are calling from and determines where to route the call. We have to update the map daily with new homes, and we are the key to first responders. The call could be from a home or cell phone, and the tower it hits will route to the authority, and they can find it on a map and get the first responders out there ASAP,” she explained. “That took four years to build a number of years ago. Now we have text to 9-1-1 and people can text with our communicators to relay and get them to the right place. The map still picks them up and sends out the proper authorities.”

She is responsible for building budgets to pay for these extensive services and the technology that changes rapidly behind it. Currently SPAG is building a more digital infrastructure that can handle video and updated technology, and that requires more bandwidth. Gay Lynn said the work is challenging as she interfaces with multiple phone companies and tries to plan ahead for needs that can change quickly.

But the rewards for both of her jobs are plentiful.

“I love the people I get to work with, and the rewards are two-fold. On the criminal justice side it is to see my cadets graduate and start in the career of a lifetime like I did. Just to be able to encourage them and get them through the rough stuff and see them graduate and become successful is a reward,” she said. “On the 9-1-1 side, I had a fire burning inside of me about safety. My reward is knowing that every time someone calls 9-1-1 we are going to hear them and get them help. Every first responder has the opportunity to respond to every caller, and no one gets overlooked in our system.”

Gay Lynn and husband Richard, a sergeant with the Frenship ISD police department, have a blended family of five children and five grandchildren. She adds, “Lubbock is home for now but we’re always open to wherever God decides to take us.”

    

Devotional: A fresh start in Christ

Scripture: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Corinthians 5:17)

As we step into a new year, we are offered a fresh start. The turning of the calendar gives us an opportunity to reflect on the past and look forward to the future. It's a time when many of us make resolutions or set new goals. Yet, as believers, the most significant "new beginning" we experience is found in Christ.

Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that when we are in Christ, we become a new creation. The old has passed away, and the new has come. This means that, no matter what mistakes, failures, or struggles we carried into this year, we are no longer defined by them. In Christ, we have been given a clean slate, a renewed spirit, and the promise of transformation.

As you enter this year, remember that you don't have to carry the weight of your past. God is not asking you to be perfect; He's inviting you to walk with Him, trusting in His grace to shape you. Every day is an opportunity to grow in faith, to surrender your plans to Him, and to allow His presence to guide you into the future He has for you.

 

 

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