State Police Admit Firing Dispatcher in 2007

The New Jersey State Police have admitted that they fired an unnamed female dispatcher based in West Trenton back in 2007, after she mishandled a 911 call from a woman who was being chased down on the street, and who was then assaulted and raped. The firing came to light after the logging tape of the 911 call was played last week during the trial of the suspect in the case. The woman testified that as she was being chased by the man, she dialed 911 on her cellular phone. The call was routed to the State Police instead of the Parsippany police department. On the call, the woman yelled, “Please help me! Please help me!” The dispatcher asked the woman if she was leaving a bar, and told her to stop screaming. However, the woman dropped the phone before giving any more details. Neighbors soon reported her screams to Parsippany police, who responded to arrest the suspect. The state police didn’t explain precisely why the dispatcher was fired. In the statement, State Police spokesperson Lt. Gerald Lewis said only that the call was “improperly handled.” He added that, “The job of the 911 dispatcher is too important to allow significant mistakes to go unanswered,” and that the incident was, “not indicative of the performance level we require of our public safety telecommunicators, nor does it reflect the extensive training that each is given.” Listen (mp3) to the 911 call here.