Police Terminate Dispatcher After Murder-Suicide

A dispatcher who was just fired by the Orlando (Fla.) police department for mishandling 911 calls related to a March 2009 murder-suicide says that he did nothing wrong, and that he is appealing his termination. Alan Ballard, 60, made several mistakes, police said, leading to mis-prioritization of one 911 call and the delay of officers in looking for the victim, who a co-worker reported had been kidnapped by an ex-boyfriend. “Our employees have to be held accountable for their actions,” Sgt. Barbara Jones said. Ballard was skeptical when talking to the co-worker, and didn’t enter the incident into CAD for 23 minutes. He also classified it as a suspicious incident, not as a kidnapping, which the co-worker clearly described. Read more and listen to the 911 calls here.