Chief Arrested Over 911 Tapes

The interim police chief of Helena-West Helena (Ark.) has been arrested for failing to provide logging tapes of a dispatcher’s outgoing telephone call, made in response to a 911 call from a 6 year-old boy. A family claimed the boy dialed 911 and hung up, and the dispatcher called back and made derogatory and inappropriate comments to the boy. A local newspaper filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain the call tapes. However, chief Fred Fielder told the newspaper that the 911 center’s logging recorder doesn’t tape outgoing calls, only in-coming calls. But the newspaper contacted the recorder company, who confirmed that all calls are taped, so the newspaper went to court and the judge ordered Fielder arrested. He was released on bail, still contending that the dispatcher’s call wasn’t recorded.