A veteran Hernando County (Fla.) sheriff’s dispatcher was counseled within an hour of handling a 911 call during which she was allegedly sounded impatient with the caller, who was reporting a murder with the suspect still at the home. Jessica Vore is a 15-year dispatcher, and communications director Bill Kicklighter said Vore was a very conscientious employee. “She beats herself up more than we or the media ever could. She’s the type of employee that takes it to heart,” he said. The caller reported a shallow grave in her back yard, and that her brother had most likely killed her other brother. The caller’s father was uncovering the grave as the woman spoke to Vore in fear she might be killed. Kicklighter said Vore failed to assure the caller that deputies were enroute, and had her repeat several pieces of information. The reprimand goes in Vore’s personnel file, but will be removed if she doesn’t receive any other discipline within the next year. Read more about the incident here, and listen to the 911 call (60 seconds of caller information redacted).
2 comments… add one
It’s easy to sit and listen to the call and wonder why she had to have the caller repeat, but if you are listening to the call with the adrenaline going through your system, and with radios in the background, and with phones still ringing, and while you’re trying to type and/or relay the information to your co-workers – it makes it a little more difficult! We all make mistakes and can learn from calls like this one, but we also need to understand there is more to every story!
You folks in Florida have got the worse system of confidentiality in the counrty. I don’t see a problem whatsoever with this dispatcher. She wasn’t impatient, she was doing what we coach and preach, and that is to verify information. The State of Florida needs to enact a state law that forbids 911 calls from being released to the public without a subpoena. Amazing how many calls wind up on the internet and most of them are from FLorida.
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