Honored Officer Now Appealing His Firing

An Edmonton (Alb.) police constable who was honored with the department’s Medal of Valor for saving the life of a suicidal man is now trying to save his job as a 911 dispatcher. The story of former dispatcher Dale Moore includes murder, a 911 call, his departmental award 21 years after the incident, a suspect ruled incompetent to stand trial, and an alleged department cover-up. Moore joined the department in 1975 as a constable, and then retired in 2008 with 30 years of service. He returned as a part-time 911 operator that same year. In May 2008 he was given the department’s Medal of Valor for an April 1987 incident where he pulled a suicidal man from scaffolding, saving his life. Several other officers were also given awards for 20 to 30 year-old incidents at this same time. Then in November 2008 he fielded a 911 call from a 60 year-old woman who said her son had assaulted her. Police say the call ended abrubtly, but Moore did not follow up on the call or send police to investigate. The son called police three hours later to say his mother was dead, and he was arrested for murder. The department did not make Moore’s inaction public, or reveal that they had immediately fired him. Last month the son was ruled “not criminally responsible” for the murder after a psychiatric panel found he suffered from schizophrenia. Now Moore has filed a union grievance to return to work. Tony Simioni, president of the Edmonton Police Association said everyone agrees that Moore made a mistake. But he asked, “Is it worthy of being fired?”