Dispatcher Fired Over Suicide

Vancouver (BC) police chief constable Jamie Graham has fired the dispatcher who handled a suicide incident that ended with a man’s death, saying officers weren’t dispatched for 20 minutes, and an officer made insensitive jokes about the incident with the dispatcher. Graham said that black humor “gets us through the day sometimes,” but that he was more upset about the response delay. The man dialed 911, and officers were available to respond, but weren’t sent for 20 minutes, he said. He would not disclose the nature of the joking, saying the investigation is still on-going. “We owe it to his family, to you to find out if we could have done something better here,” he said.