Dispatcher Fired 6 Hours After Suspension Ends

A DeSoto (La.) dispatcher who was suspended for five days last month for not following proper procedures and tardiness was fired for a mistake she made six hours after returning to work. The E911 board of commissioners gave administrator Bruce Vanderhoeven authority for the immediate termination of Donna Claybrook, and he did so after she failed to transfer a 911 caller reporting a domestic disturbance to the sheriff’s office. Instead, she took the information, hung up with the caller and then notified the sheriff’s dispatchers herself. The mistake was discovered during the routine weekly audit of dispatchers’ telephone calls and radio work. Read more about the incident here.